Where Loyalties Lie
by esgaroths
Summary: Cora Briar is a Terran that gets by selling items from Earth to citizens in Xandar. Bounty hunters Rocket & Groot are on a mission to capture her friend; Jasper Starling. He's wanted for a generous amount of units and Cora can't understand why. At first, she defends him from this strange duo but finds he has a secret of his own... so who will she side with in this space adventure?
1. The Bounty Hunters

**Author's Note:**

 _ **Hey guys,**_

 _ **Before this fanfic gets started I want to say that this story will start as my own story that will kind of serve as a prequel sort of thing to the films then the story will eventually lead into the plot of the two Guardians of the Galaxy films and the plots that I will have created will run alongside the film plots so there will be new bits that I will slot into the film stories and things that will change slightly. So, don't panic; you will see all the Guardians in this story but Rocket, Groot and Yondu (as well as my two OCs) will be slightly more prominent in the story. I didn't want to be boring and just slot my OCs in with the story of the films I wanted some artistic licence with the story so I hope you enjoy it! Please give me feedback as it will be really helpful for me and I would appreciate it so much!**_

* * *

"What is this?" A male Xandarian asked curiously, picking up the foreign item hesitantly.

"If you pick it up you're buying it." Cora spoke as she leant forward across her stand, placing her palms of her hands flat on the counter.

"But I have no clue as to what it is." The baffled Xandarian frowned. "I assume it's an object from Terra considering you're Terran."

"That would be correct." She nodded and folded her arms. "What you're holding is what Terran's call a 'yo-yo'."

"A yo-yo?"

"Yup."

"What does it do? Is it some sort of explosive device?"

"No!" Cora said with a chuckle. "It's far from it. Do you have children, Sir?"

"I have a boy." He nodded with a faint smile.

"Then your boy will love it – it's a popular toy back at Earth."

"How much?"

"50 units."

"What?!" The Xandarian spluttered. "That's ridiculous! I'll give you 30."

"You will give me 40 or I will make it double for touching it without my permission." Cora insisted, holding his gaze.

He sighed in defeat and proceeded to transfer 40 units over to Cora. She smiled to herself then wished him a good day. When he proceeded to walk away, she rolled her eyes and shook her head. She strolled around her shop, checking to see if she could straighten out any objects that had moved slightly from their set position. The shop had quietened down a bit, but Cora wasn't worried; she had already achieved her profit goal for the day after the previous customer had bought a record player off her for 1000 units. She then proceeded to tidy her food and drink section, rearranging the bottles of fizzy beverages and snack packets until she heard the shop door slide open. Knowing it would most likely be customers, she turned to greet them but was taken aback when she laid eyes on them.

A raccoon had just casually strolled into the shop, along with a tall creature that Cora had forgotten the name of. She knew it was definitely a creature from the galaxy and not from Earth, although it did resemble a tree. The two were nothing she had seen before during her time in the galaxy but she had more of it to explore.

"Hello." Cora said warily, unsure of what response she would get back.

"What is this place, a junk sale?" The raccoon spoke, turning his nose at the various objects in the shop.

She paused for a moment, taken aback by his ability to talk and understand her; as well as his comment about her shop.

"Can I help you?" She frowned but kept her tone polite.

"We're looking for somebody." The raccoon stated as he eyed a shelf of Barbie dolls with disgust and slight intrigue.

Her eyes widened in disbelief as she burst out laughing at the two, causing the woodland creature to narrow his beady eyes at her and for the wooden figure to scratch his head in confusion.

"You cannot be serious."

"What's the problem?" The raccoon folded his arms.

"You're bounty hunters?"

"How can you tell?"

"I've had my fair share come in here requesting information and they all seem to begin with something along the lines of "I'm here for somebody' or "I'm looking for someone." Cora explained, turning to face the small, furry animal. "I just didn't expect a raccoon or a... Flora Colossus – yeah that's the one – to be bounty hunters."

"Don't call me a raccoon." He snarled and stepped closer towards her.

"Gosh, relax a little!" She spoke, raising her hands defensively. "I'm afraid that's what you are my furry little friend."

"We ain't friends, girlie." The raccoon spat.

Cora rolled her eyes at him and strode to the counter to organise her display items. "Tell me your name then."

"The name's Rocket."

"Your pal over there is rather quiet." She stated as she nodded over to the tall, wooden figure that pressing the buttons on a TV remote.

"I am Groot."

"It's nice that you're taking an interest in my stuff, Groot."

"We told you our names, care to return the favour?" Rocket asked as he paced around the room.

"Cora."

"Cora what?"

"Just Cora." She stated flatly.

"How long you been in business for?" Rocket questioned as his tree-like partner began examining more objects in the shop with great interest.

"Almost a year."

"That makes sense, considering I ain't never seen this little dump before." He grumbled.

"Hey! If you've come in here just to talk crap about my business then you can get out." Cora warned.

"Fine, I'll just cut to the chase." He said, growing agitated.

"Tell me about this person you're looking for." She queried, leaning lazily over the counter.

"He's a Terran, like yourself. We picked up info that tells us he's living here on Xandar."

"Uh huh. A name would be helpful."

"Does Jasper Starling ring a bell?"

"Nope." Cora shot back, almost too quickly.

"You sure about that?" Rocket pressed.

"Doesn't ring a bell." She replied, putting her chin in her hand and shaking her head.

"He's got a big reward on him but I can't find any fricking info on him. Groot and I will hit jackpot if we get this one." Rocket grumbled to himself.

"Well… sorry I can't help you boys." She sighed.

Rocket narrowed his eyes at Cora, knowing something was off about her. He knew she knew something, he just had to go about it in a different manner. He then turned to Groot, who had picked up the TV remote again examining it with great detail and gestured for him to follow.

"Come on Groot, let's get out of here."

"I am Groot." He protested.

"It's just a fricking piece of Terran garbage, leave it." Rocket instructed.

"I am Groot?"

"No, I am not buying it for you! Quit your whining and come with me."

"I am Groot."

Rocket rubbed his head and sighed in annoyance. He stared at Groot, who stared at him innocently as he clutched the TV remote to his wooden chest. After a brief moment of silence, Rocket turned back to Cora.

"How much will you take for it?"

"15 units."

"I guess it could be worse." Rocket muttered as he transferred over the units.

"Pleasure doing business with you two." Cora said with a cheeky smile.

Rocket snorted at her comment as strode out of the shop whilst Groot followed slowly with the TV remote in his hand, adding a slow wave at Cora before walking after his furry companion.


	2. Jasper

Cora had secured her shop after finishing work for the day. She proceeded to walk through the bustling streets of Xandar, knowing exactly where she wanted to  
go and what she was going to do. She was heading to the bar; although there were a variety of bars she could have chosen, Cora was headed one in particular and the reason was not for a drink. She didn't want to drink at that moment in time. She strode towards the bar door after a fair amount of weaving through crowds and was about to push the door open when a Xandarian exiting the premises beat her to it, so she stepped to the side to allow him to stumble past.

Immediately stepping into the bar, various different alcohol smells wafted into her nose to make one rather foul scent. She braced herself for the scent to linger and entered. She had heard that Xandar bars were not the worst in the galaxy to her surprise and in comparison, were much nicer and sophisticated. She wondered whether she wanted to find out just how bad bars in other parts of the galaxy could possibly be, knowing she would dread to find out what sort of things occurred but on the other hand, her curiosity was piqued.

She shook her head after observing the bar's atmosphere, scolding herself mentally for letting her thoughts distract her from her task. She made her way straight to the counter to see who she expected to be there and released a sigh of relief.

"That's two for you, Sir." A tall, Terran teenage boy said over the hum of conversation as he handed two multi-coloured drinks over to a Krylorian couple sat together by the counter.

He walked over towards Cora's side of the bar, running a hand through his short, light blonde hair as he almost past her, then walked backwards slightly after recognising her.

"Cora! Here for a drink?"

"Not today, Jasper." She shook her head. "When is your break?"

"Not for another half hour." Jasper replied as he picked up a glass and dried it with a cloth. "Why?"

"I need to speak with you." Cora said in a low voice.

"About what?"

She pursed her lips and stared at him intently, hoping he would pick up on the fact that she did not wish to speak with him out in the open. Jasper stopped cleaning the glass and placed it on a shelf behind him before turning to face Cora again.

"I'll ask the boss if I can take my break now." He stated as he slipped into the back room momentarily.

She drummed her fingers on the wooden, sticky table and tried blocking out all the commotion around her. She pondered on how Jasper was going to react to her warning; whether he would believe her. What was he going to do? She didn't think there was much she could do for him and began to debate if it was worth telling him, but quickly reassured herself that she had to do it. He had done her many favours and thought it would only be fair to help him out.

"Come with me." Jasper spoke as he unlocked the short wooden gate to get through to the other side of the bar.

Cora obeyed and followed him through the store room that had a security camera on the ceiling and crates of stock piled high, making it slightly difficult to pass through. He opened another door revealing a quiet, narrow street. Jasper leaned back against the building and folded his arms.

"This better be important."

"Of course, it's important." She frowned. "Jasper, there's something you should know."

"Is this what I think it is Cora?" He said with a smirk and raised eyebrow.

"Shut up." She shot back trying not to smile. "Stop messing around."

"Okay okay, what did you want to tell me?" He questioned, his face growing solemn.

"Jasper… do you know of anyone who would be looking for you?"

"No, why?" He asked, raising his eyebrows in shock.

"Are you sure?"

"The only people I know in Xandar are you and a few regulars at the bar that are normal Xandarian and Krylorian citizens."

"So, you wouldn't be able to tell me why two bounty hunters are after you?"

Jasper tightened his jaw and his eyes widened slightly. He simply shook his head in response, baffled by the news.

"How do you know about this?"

"They walked into the shop today and asked about you." Cora explained. "I think they were questioning a lot of people."

"How much is the bounty?"

"They didn't say – only that it seemed like it was a big bounty to them."

"Am I wanted dead or alive?" He asked gravely.

"I don't know."

"Do you know who set up the bounty?"

"I don't know." Cora repeated.

Jasper sighed and began pacing around the dimly-lit street that was deserted, apart from the likes of himself and Cora. He rubbed the back of his neck as he became occupied with his thoughts.

"Well, I don't know what else to say other than: shit." He said with a nervous laugh.

"Yup, you've got that right." She replied slowly.

"What do you think I should do?"

"I honestly have no idea."

"I need to get out of Xandar…" Jasper spoke thoughtfully.

"No!" Cora suddenly cried in an outburst. "That's the worst possible thing you can do right now. You need to act like you never knew about this. If you attempt to hide or run away it will only attract attention to you."

"But what do I do when I am found?"

"Then that's when you run and hide – I'll come with you, but where could we hide out of all the places in the galaxy?"

"I think you know exactly where to hide." Jasper said with a small, triumphant grin.

"Do I?" Cora replied, beginning to frown with confusion.

"Isn't it obvious, Cora? Earth! We can go back to Earth and hide there. There's no way they would be willing to go there."

"That's not such a bad idea." She said smiling after her realisation. "I do need to restock on supplies for the shop."

"Then it's settled. Was that why you came here to speak to me?"

"Of course it is, dumbass." Cora laughed.

"What I meant was; did you have anything else you wanted to tell me?"

"No, that was it. Now, get back to making drinks."

"I still have time to kill until I have to come back."

"Then in that case, you can make me a drink." Cora winked.

"Terran or Xandarian?" Jasper asked as he beckoned her inside back to the store room.

"Let's go for Terran."

She followed him across the store room as he led her to a locker and put his thumb on the scanner, causing it to click and open, revealing a half empty bottle of vodka, a full bottle of whiskey and liqueur with two empty glasses.

"You choose this time." Jasper offered.

"Open up the liqueur."

He took the glasses and the bottle out of the locker and knocked it shut. He perched them on a crate storing Xandarian alcohol and began to pour out a drop of the drink into each glass before screwing the cap back on and handing a glass to Cora and picking the other one up. He gestured with the glass for a cheers and she obliged, their glasses clinking before they gulped down their portions of the drink.

"That was a good choice." Jasper spoke after licking his lips.

"I was beginning to miss the taste of alcohol back home." She said, beginning to reminisce.

"We should open that Scottish whiskey soon though. No one does whiskey quite like us." He said proudly.

"When we head back to Earth we should grab some gin – London gin obviously."

"I must admit, you Brits make the finest gin." He agreed, smiling at her before getting onto his feet and putting away the glasses and the bottle. "Looks like I need to head back now."

"Alright then." Cora replied, getting up with him. "Be careful out there."

"The only trouble I usually get myself in are bar fights and I want to keep it that way." Jasper smiled.

The both proceeded to enter the bar and Jasper swiftly unlocked the gate to allow Cora to exit the bar. She turned to him and bid him goodbye briefly before setting out back into the nightlife of Xandar.


	3. Sell-out

The next day was business as usual for Cora and her shop. The day seemed to have dragged as she had only sold a rubber duck and a large roll of bubble wrap. She accepted that it had been a slow day and began tidying her shelves and counting her stock. Once she had finished that, she glanced at her Terran clock on the wall and noticed it was only two hours until closing. She then sat slumped over her counter and rested her head on her folded arms.

As she sat there, Cora had Jasper on her mind, wondering if he got through the rest of his shift without any trouble, hoping that no one approached him to question him or take him away. She knew she was going to visit the bar anyway later on that evening to see if he made it to his shift; she wanted him to sleep peacefully before he had to wake up for work.

The sound of the shop door opening jolted Cora from her thoughts and looked up to see who it was and immediately braced herself for what was to come. She rolled her eyes and straightened her back. She looked up at Groot and then looked down at Rocket who stormed towards her.

"Let me guess, you want a refund on that TV remote?" Cora joked.

"Shut up, humie." Rocket yelled. "We want answers."

"Why are you so worked up about a TV remote?" She said mockingly.

"Enough about the frickin' TV remote!" He snarled as he climbed onto the counter and pointed in her face. "You lied to us yesterday!"

"Okay okay." She said, slipping off her chair and walking to the other side of the counter. "I may have bumped the price of the remote from 10 units to 15."

"Oh come on! You conned me too?"

"That's the only thing I did yesterday – I have to make a living up here somehow."

"I am Groot."

"Yes, I get it Groot; you like that thing." Rocket said waving a hand at him to signal that now was not the time and jumped from the counter. "But you, girlie; you didn't just lie about that but you lied about another thing!"

"And what would that be?"

"You know where the Terran boy is. You knew all along."

"What Terran boy?" Cora lied.

"You wanna play clueless with me? You can try it but I have proof."

"Go on then." Cora challenged. "Show me your proof."

Rocket smirked then raised his wrist and tapped on the buttons on the contraption he wore on it. A hologram appeared and hovered over it, showing footage of Cora and Jasper from the night before at the bar drinking their liqueur and talking. Her eyes widened and backed away, unsure of what to do now she had been found out. At the same time, she found it slightly funny how she became suddenly became afraid of a woodland creature and a tree.

"How did you find that?" She said in a furious tone.

"I have a way with electronics and hacking into security systems."

"But you're a fricking raccoon!"

"Call me that again I dare you! Surely your tiny human brain must know that I ain't nothing ordinary."

"Yeah I get it, you don't have to tell me twice." Cora rolled her eyes.

"Now I'm gonna ask you again." He said threateningly as he switched off the hologram. "Tell me where he is, humie!"

"Did you ever think to check the bar if that's where you got that recording from?" She said stubbornly.

"Do you really think Groot and I are morons?" Rocket shot back, becoming more aggressive. "Of course we fricking checked the bar. He ain't there! That's why we're asking you about where else he could be."

"You sure do have a lot of anger for a little raccoon." She taunted.

"Oh that's it!" Rocket growled as he took a large gun from off his back and loaded it. "You're gonna regret messing with me, girlie!"

"I am Groot." Groot agreed.

Cora didn't think such a small creature would be able to operate a weapon so big, but she didn't want to entertain the idea at that moment in time. She felt for her blaster in her back trouser pocket to realise that she had left it behind in her stock room. She heard the large gun whir as it was preparing to fire and dove behind one of the shelves to hear glass shattering behind her. Rocket had missed his shot and made a whole in the counter.

She crawled across the floor and looked at the shelves to find an item of use to defend herself. She could see packets of balloons, pocket fans, grow-in-water toys – nothing that could be of use. Cora continued to crawl frantically down the aisle, planning to make a run for it through the store room.

"I'm not gonna wait around for an answer from you!" Rocket yelled as he stood at the end of the aisle with the gun loaded in his arms. "Tell me where he is and I might change my mind about blowing you up into pieces!"

"Who are you working for? Why does he have a bounty on him?" Cora shouted as she briefly turned her head to address him then continued to search for something to defend herself.

"Save it – I've had enough of your annoying questions!" He said as he aimed at her.

She began to panic inside and her eyes darted up and down the shelves and side to side in search for anything she could use until she noticed something eye-level in front of her. She was knelt in front of her water gun shelf. She shrugged, knowing it was better than nothing and took the large gun down to notice that thankfully, she had remembered to fill them with water. Cora then put the strap over her shoulder so the water gun comfortably rested on her stomach and swiped two small water pistols off the shelf and put them in her front trouser pockets.

Cora then rose to her feet and hid behind the end of the shelf. She began pumping the water in the water gun, getting ready to fire as Rocket squinted, trying to get a good aim on her.

"I'm gonna count to three: One –"

She then stepped out from the side of the shelf, exposing her top half and squirted the water and drenched a very confused Rocket.

"Agh!" He spluttered as he lowered his gun. "What the hell is that thing?! Groot help me!"

Cora continued firing blasts of water at the raccoon as he attempted to shield himself from it with his arms. Groot slowly strolled towards Rocket and stood in front of him protectively. Rocket then armed himself with his gun once again and scurried up Groot's arm, perching on his shoulder as he reloaded.

"Go after her, Groot!"

The flora colossus began to step towards her, causing Cora to switch her target from Rocket to him. After rapidly pumping some more water, she fired at Groot and he stopped in his tracks as he let out a low grumble while shaking his head to dry off. As he became covered in water, he realised what the substance was and smiled. He then opened his mouth and tried to catch the water in his mouth to drink it.

"Groot! What the hell, man?!" Rocket shouted. "Stop drinking that – you don't know if that stuff is toxic!"

"I am Groot." He gargled as he continued to gulp down the water that was being fired by Cora.

"What? It's only water?" Rocket asked in surprised tone and then turned to Cora. "You're really fighting us with fricking water?!"

"Well it worked didn't it?" Cora grinned and then slipped into the door to the stock room and locked it.

She heard Rocket cursing and yelling from the other side and rapid footsteps approaching the door. She swiftly pressed the panic button on her wall which would cause the shop to lock down. It was usually used for cases of attempted robbery but she knew locking them in the shop would buy her time to escape. As she heard more yelling from the other side of the door; she scanned the store room to find anything of use.

Cora noticed her blaster lying on her desk but wanted to quickly search for a backpack to store some items inside it. She ran to the section where she stored them, ripping a box open to see the only one left was a children's backpack that was shaped like a purple tortoise shell, with soft, plastic lilac spikes attached to it. Nevertheless, she took it and zipped it open running to fetch her blaster and popped it inside. Remembering her plasma sphere, she opened the draw in her desk and took it out to stuff it inside her backpack.

She was about to run out the back door when she decided she wanted to bring some food and drink just in case. The banging from the other side of the door indicated that she didn't have much time left to gather items. She went to the section where she kept stock of Terran food and drink and threw bottles of water and cola inside and grabbed packs of Jaffa Cakes, Oreos and peanuts to stash inside her full back pack. When she was satisfied, she zipped the backpack up and heaved it onto her shoulders, ran to the back door and exited outside the back of the back of the building.

In the corner of her eye, Cora spied empty crates and rushed to shut the door, lock it behind her and stack the crates in front of it. When she was done, she wiped her hands against each other then proceeded to sprint into the streets of Xandar, knowing it was time to excute her plan with Jasper earlier than they were expecting.

Meanwhile, Rocket gave the door one last punch before giving a sigh of defeat.

"I should have done this in the first place." He grumbled, shaking his head before loading his guns.

He pulled the trigger and made a round hole inside the door and stepped through, unlocking the door for Groot to allow him access. Groot crouched and stepped inside the stock room and stood tall, surveying the room.

"I am Groot."

"Way to state the obvious, Groot." Rocket shouted as he tossed his gun onto the ground in frustration. "She escaped that's why she's not here."

"I am Groot."

"Look, I'm not mad at you." He softened his tone slightly. "I'm pissed at that Cora girl. She fricking beat us… WITH WATER!" He added beginning to lose his temper.

"I am Groot."

"This is bullshit!" Rocket exclaimed as he paced around until he stopped, then dialled on the buttons on the device he wore on his wrist.

"She doesn't know that I also captured the audio files with the security footage from the camera." He spoke slyly. "She doesn't know that we know she's headed for Terra."

"I am Groot."

"Exactly my friend, we're gonna catch up to her before she can even get there herself."


	4. Snake in the Plain

Pushing and shoving through the bustle of Xandar, Cora panted as she continued to sprint through towards Jasper's neighbourhood. She knew her backpack and her frantic running were receiving puzzled looks from the Xandarians but she refused to let that distract her and she pressed on. She slowed as she approached an estate of high-rise apartments and followed the street that entered the estate, turning at the second left and becoming face to face with an apartment building. Cora approached a control panel that had a button for each apartment and pressed the one for Jasper's, activating a built-in camera on the control panel shortly after.

"Cora?" Jasper's voice spoke through the control panel.

"Let me in, Jasper."

"Of course it'd be you."

His voice then cut off and the doors to the lobby of the apartment building slid open. She strode inside and punched in the level for Jasper's apartment once she boarded the cylinder-shaped glass elevator and felt herself being transported upwards at a high speed. As she neared the level, she noticed Jasper waiting outside for her by his front door. Once she exited the elevator, Jasper rushed towards her.

"What's happened?"

"I hope you don't have any plans - we're going to have to start our trip early." Cora explained with dread.

"Did they visit you again?"

"Why else would I be here? They know that we saw each other last night."

"So, they know I work at the bar." Jasper concluded with a grave expression on his face.

"I put the shop on lock down so they're locked in for now. It should buy us some time to escape – you still have that ship, right?"

"Yeah, we'll need to collect it though. I put it away in the garage." Jasper said as he turned to his apartment door to gather some belongings.

"Jasper, we don't have time. We need to go now!" She said with urgency to her voice.

"Alright alright, let me just grab my blaster and we'll go- jesus!" He shouted as he disappeared into his apartment and shortly came back with his blaster.

"I have supplies so you don't need to worry about that." She said as she gestured for him to follow her into the elevator

"That explains the very stylish backpack you're sporting." Jasper joked.

"Come on you, get in." She laughed.

Jasper eventually obeyed and pressed a button, causing the elevator to shut its doors and descend at an alarming but smooth speed to the ground floor. Once the doors parted, they both strode out of the apartment building and proceeded walking across the street on route to the garage. Cora was tempted to run but she knew this would cause a stir and decided to follow Jasper's calm approach.

"What kind of supplies have you got in there?" He asked curiously as they walked side by side through the busy streets.

"Food, drink, a plasma sphere, weapons… just the basics."

"Fair enough." Jasper nodded and fell silent momentarily, appearing deep in thought before he asked another question. "You said you put the shop on lockdown – I take it things got messy?"

"Dealing with bounty hunters, it always is. I wasn't surprised in all honesty; I saw it coming."

"Just how bad did it get?"

"Weapon's got involved."

"Jesus."

"So, I put the shop on lockdown and came to get you." Cora explained. "They do have decent heads on their shoulders so I bet by now they would have gotten themselves out."

"How did they know we were together last night? He asked, turning his head to her as he walked on.

"One of them 'has a way with electronic systems' – those were his words not mine. He pulled up a hologram of footage from the security camera in the bar."

"We should have been more careful." Jasper lamented.

"We weren't to know."

They had finally reached the garage and Jasper was the first to enter along with Cora following behind him. She decided to stand by the door to keep watch in case unwanted visitors such as Rocket and Groot or possible accomplices or theirs. She would occasionally glance at Jasper to see how much progress he had made with his conversation with a worker at the garage. Eventually, Jasper called her over and she followed him towards a hangar bay where his ship was parked and ready to board.

The ship was rather wide but fairly small in size. It had two triangular shaped wings on each side. The top level of wings were shorter than the wings beneath them and had built in guns and turrets. The bottom level of wings had motors and boosters inside them to power the ship. The ship itself was silver with one green stripe running lengthways down the centre. On the west side of the ship, the doors to enter it were in front of the wings. It was the only ship Cora had piloted and controlled and was therefore, only familiar with its particular controls. She wasn't sure how good the ship was in comparison to Xandarian ships and other ships in the galaxy but Jasper had described it as an 'all-round' ship.

"Right, let's board this beauty." He said, rubbing his hands together.

"Have you thought of a name for it yet?" She asked as she boarded the ship, climbing the stairs to the controls as the door shut behind her.

"I'm going with the Winged Cobra." He replied, taking a seat in front of the controls and flicking various switches to bring it to life.

"Why the Winged Cobra?"

"I don't know, the green stripe reminds me of a snake." Jasper shrugged.

Cora took the bag off her shoulders and placed it next to the chair next to his before sitting in it and began entering the coordinates for Earth into the ship's system. She then buckled up her seatbelt and grabbed onto edges of the chair.

"I'm ready when you are." She nodded.

Jasper fastened his seatbelt, grabbed hold of the steering wheel and lunged it forward, causing the Winged Cobra to jolt onwards as it gained momentum across the take-off strip. Once the ship was outside, it sped up and when it reached the appropriate speed, Jasper pulled a lever and the ship zoomed into the air and out of Xandar's atmosphere. Soon enough, they were surrounded by the galaxy's stars and rocks and Cora couldn't help but stare at the windscreen in awe. Eventually, Jasper got the Winged Cobra stable and on course and programmed it onto auto-pilot.

"Everything is reading normal." She stated. "Fuel is good, the oxygen is stable and we are on course."

"Good, now we can relax until we get to Earth." Jasper replied as he undid his seatbelt and sat back in his seat. "In the meantime, I need something to eat."

"Take the bag." Cora replied, lazily kicking the bag over to him.

He nodded in thanks and picked up the bag, resting it on his lap. He unzipped it and peered inside then glanced up at Cora, shaking his head with a smile.

"Jaffa Cakes; really?"

"Don't be so ungrateful!" She chuckled. "Eat the Oreos then."

"It's just so typical of you." He laughed and opened a packet of Oreos, popping one in his mouth.

The pair sat together, chatting away whilst eating and drinking to keep their energy levels up. They knew they had a long journey ahead of them and they only had each other and the stars for company. They continued to chat for hours until they dozed off to the sound of the ship's engine humming as it sped across the galaxy.

* * *

A few hours later, Cora jumped as she was startled from her sleep. She rubbed her eyes and looked down at the empty orange Jaffa Cake wrappers on her lap. She narrowed her eyes at the windscreen, thinking that the Winged Cobra could have possibly bumped into a floating piece of rock but could not see any damage to the windscreen. She was convinced she felt the ship jolt suddenly.

She turned to Jasper to see him still fast asleep on the chair. Cora scarped her hair back and proceeded to enter codes into the controls to check on the status of the ship. The screen in front of her on the control panel showed her there was minor damage to the east side of the ship, possibly caused by gun fire from another ship. Before she could activate the Winged Cobra's ship detector, the ship jolted again and rumbled from the impact. Cora fell out of her chair into a heap on the steel floor and clambered on her feet to see Jasper wide awake and concerned.

"What hit us?"

"Possibly another ship." Cora explained. "I'm going to activate the ship detector."

"I don't think you need to." Jasper spoke meekly as he pointed to the windscreen.

Cora looked back at the windscreen to see herself face to face with another ship. It was slightly smaller and slimmer than the Winged Cobra and only had one pair of wings. It was all grey and had more advanced weapons attached to it. She shook her head in disbelief, knowing who it could possibly be and wondered how they were able to catch up so soon. The Winged Cobra then began to make beeping noises and Jasper looked down at the screen on his control panel.

"They want us to turn our communicator on."

"Do it. I think I know who it is." Cora sighed as she felt her anger bubble up inside her.

"I'll leave the talking to you." Jasper nodded and pressed various sets of buttons to activate it.

This caused the beeping to cease and a familiar voice to boom across the speakers inside the ship.

"Listen up girlie, did you really think that little stunt you pulled at your junkyard was cute?" Rocket's voice yelled with no introduction.

"How the hell did you find us?" She shouted in anger.

"I managed to grab the audio from the footage I found." Rocket announced proudly. "It told me just what I needed to hear."

"You just won't quit will you?"

"That boy has quite the bounty on him. I can't let an opportunity like that pass by. Care to hand him over?"

"Why so sure that he's with me?" She asked as she turned to Jasper, who watched her with a solemn expression.

"Cut the crap, my ship is picking up not just one but two signs of life in your piece of flying trash." He said confidently.

A faint "I am Groot" was then picked up on the transmission which seemed to confuse Jasper as he frowned.

"Just because their ship has some colour on it doesn't mean it's better than ours." Rocket argued. "Anyways, hand him over girlie and I'll think about leaving you and your Terran junk alone."

"Why don't you discuss this with me since I'm the one this mostly affects." Jasper retorted.

"Jasper no –"

"I'll discuss it with you once you board my ship, Starling." Rocket said slyly.

"I'm not letting you get me that easily." He shot back.

"No no no Groot don't touch that! Ugh, I'm growing bored of this conversation." Rocket groaned and then hung up.

The ship was silent and Jasper turned to face Cora who shook her head angrily at Rocket's ship in front of them.

"Why did he hang up?" Jasper thought aloud.

Rocket began to fire multiple shots at the ship, causing it to wobble side to side and the emergency sirens to wail frantically. It was evident to both Jasper and Cora that Rocket meant business and was willing to bring them down if they weren't going to come quietly.


	5. Back to square one

_**Hey guys!**_

 ** _I just wanted to say a massive thank you to those who are reading this and following it or favouriting it you are all so wonderful! I honestly didn't expect this to do so well so far (well to my standards 150 or so views is great) so thank you I can't thank you enough. I just wanted to state that whilst I do read the chapters before I post them, sometimes I'm rather tired and I miss small silly spelling/grammar mistakes after publishing so yes I am aware but I feel like life would be much easier if I did one big revision of the story as a whole once its all posted here than correct every individual chapter as I go. I hope you guys understand but I promise I work hard to get the chapters as close to perfect as I can before I publish them. Anyways, I hope you enjoy this chapter - thanks for all the support!_**

 ** _\- esgaroths_**

* * *

"Shit!" Cora exclaimed as she frantically pushed buttons on the control panel.

"I'll steer, you fire." Jasper commanded as he sat in his chair without doing the seatbelt and latched onto the steering wheel.

The Winged Cobra turned around and began to lurch forward at a high speed. Jasper had no idea where to retreat to and decided to focus more on dodging the incoming fire from Rocket's ship. Cora grabbed onto the controls to the weapons, that were shaped similarly to a joystick; and squinted at the screen in front of her that gave her a point-of-view shot from the guns. This made her able to see Rocket's ship from the front and she aimed for the windscreen. When she was ready she fired, sending a beam of light to Rocket's way, which he dodged swiftly.

"Can you switch off those bloody sirens?!" Cora bellowed over the noise.

"I don't know if you noticed but I'm steering our asses away from the incoming fire!" Jasper shot back.

She heaved a sigh and began to disable the emergency sirens. Her ears rang despite the silence that had replaced the wailing. Her fingers rapidly typed into the control panel and she brought up a ship status report on her screen.

"The East side still has minor damage despite taking more hits." She stated.

"Keep firing at the ship." He said, focused on steering.

She switched her screen to the camera and once again took aim at the windscreen. After frowning at her target, she proceeded to fire. Once again, she missed the windscreen but her shot hit one of the guns on one side of the wings. Cora cheered and did a small fist bump in quick celebration.

"Nice shot!" He complemented. "Now, shoot some rapid fire at their weapons so we can disable them."

"We need a better plan, Jasper. It's one thing destroying their weapons but we actually need to get away from the ship."

"Well Cora, why don't you come up with something else?!"

"Okay okay; I'll open fire!"

With a tight grip on the ship's gun controls, Cora began to rapidly press the button to fire. She gritted her teeth and narrowed her eyes, watching each shot to see all of them miss or be dodged by Rocket's ship. As each shot failed to hit its target, she grew annoyed and began to fire faster. To her dismay, shot after shot was continuously dodged by the raccoon controlling his ship until she ceased fire and slammed her fist on the desk of controls, letting out a frustrated grunt.

"This is bullshit!"

"Right okay, we'll switch." Jasper spoke, leaning in front of Cora and taking over.

She then slid into Jasper's chair and grabbed the steering wheel, staring out ahead at the stars in front of her. She would occasionally make sharp movements to the left or right to avoid being hit. She preferred this much better and began to wonder why she was left to control the gunfire in the first place. Jasper smoothly fired shots, occasionally hitting the sides of Rocket's ship. Cora narrowly missed a rock as she turned the ship on its side briefly to zoom past it. The ship wobbled slightly off course after being hit from behind as Cora cursed under her breath.

"Careful!" Jasper warned.

She shook her head then widened her eyes as an idea suddenly popped into her head.

"Jasper, can this thing make a jump?"

"Of course it can; why?"

"I feel like a space jump back to Xandar is our only option right now."

"How many jumps is it back to Xandar?" He questioned as he fired another round of shots at Rocket's ship.

She rapidly typed in this query into the control panel, causing the screen to display a small hologram of the planet with its information on the screen.

"Only two."

"We'll destroy the ship's engine before we jump so we can have a head-start." Jasper stated.

"Got it." Cora replied as she made a scan on Rocket's ship for their engine. "It's in the rear end of the ship towards the centre. The west side of the ship is weaker – aim there and we'll do some damage."

"Get behind the ship then give me your word."

She nodded and began to drive the Winged Cobra at full throttle, beginning to feel the G-Force pin her to the seat. When she decided that the time was right, she pulled the ship into a sharp reverse; positioning the ship next to Rocket's before he could realise what their intentions were.

"Fire, Jasper!"

He immediately released a rapid string of shots at the ship, causing a thin stream of smoke to leak from it. She grinned at his work then buckled herself up as she pushed the Winged Cobra back to full speed to overtake Rocket.

"Strap yourself in!" She commanded and proceeded to set up the jump to Xandar.

Jasper sat down in the seat and fastened his seatbelt then gripped the sides of the chair.

"Make it quick, Cora." He grimaced.

She leaned back in the pilot's chair and pushed the button, propelling the Winged Cobra across the galaxy as the stars and planets became an indecipherable blur. She closed her eyes so tightly, tears began to seep from the corners and slide down her cheek. She begged for the jump to be over as she felt herself becoming more nauseous by the second. Eventually the ship slowed and she opened her eyes, rubbing them dry and let out a sigh of relief to see that the ship was facing the planet of Xandar.

"And we're back." She breathed.

"Jesus, you look more pale than usual, Cora. You're right when you say jumping doesn't agree with you." Jasper said concernedly as he turned to face her.

"I'll be fine once we land this thing." She panted and proceeded to guide the Winged Cobra towards Xandar's atmosphere.

He groaned as he rubbed his head, his head pounding after the jump. He watched as the ship began to descend onto Xandar, looking upon the city from an aerial view.

"Shall we land at the garage?"

"Not now, the bounty hunters will know where to find us" Jasper shook his head. Land in that forest just outside the city. We'll activate the ship's invisibility and walk back to the city."

She simply nodded in response and navigated the ship towards the forest then entered commands into the control panel for the landing procedure. The Winged Cobra gently lowered to the ground and ceased to a halt in the middle of the forest. Cora then shut down the controls and the ship, unbuckling her seatbelt afterwards. She rested her head against the back of her seat and let out a big breath. Jasper turned towards her and smiled thankfully.

"Good job."

"I need some fresh air." She replied weakly, slowly rising and walking to the exit, taking her unusual backpack of supplies with her.

Jasper followed her out of the Winged Cobra and found her sat on a rock taking deep breaths. He gave her a small smile as he joined her.

"Space jumps never agree with you, don't they?"

"Nope." She grumbled.

"Well er, cheers for getting us out that mess." He replied awkwardly.

"Thanks for taking the weapon controls from me." She spoke with a half-hearted chuckle.

"Whenever you're ready, I'll put on the invisibility for the Winged Cobra and we'll make our way back."

"Do you know what you're going to do when we get back?" Cora asked as she stared out at the forest.

"What do you mean?"

"They know where you work now, they know where I work. They know exactly where to look so it won't be long before they show up and we need to be ready."

Jasper paused and furrowed his eyebrows as he had a thought. Cora was right; these bounty hunters knew where to look and he knew because of his alleged big bounty he had over him they would refuse to stop searching.

"Well, we can still stick with our voyage back to Earth." He suggested.

"But what about now?"

"We don't need to do anything. Just keep doing what we usually do. I know it won't stop them finding us; but think about it, Cora. It will prevent them from acting upon it. We work in very public areas, there is no way they can capture either of us without the Nova Corps getting involved."

"You're right, I never thought of that." Cora agreed. "As long as we stay in public areas and avoid being alone for too long we should be good. Then we can use the time to properly plan our escape to Earth."

"Exactly; now are you good to go?"

"I think so." Cora nodded and stood to her feet.

Jasper then opened up a panel on the east side of the Winged Cobra and began to enter various codes and commands until the ship slowly began to blend in with the environment and became invisible. Cora picked up a faint sound from above and looked up at the sky to see a ship growing from a speck as it lowered to the ground.

"Jasper, it's them - we need to hide!"

He ran back towards her as she ran into the bushes and crouched behind them. He lowered to her level and watched with her. The ship had landed just in front of the invisible Winged Cobra and ceased to a stop. The ship door opened and revealed Rocket stepping out and cursing angrily.

"I swear they landed here, Groot. Where the hell did they go?"

"I am Groot." Groot spoke as he sprouted back to his normal height after crouching to exit their ship.

"That's ridiculous!" Rocket shot back and shook his head at him.

"I am Groot."

"They're here somewhere and I know it! Those puny Terrans can't fool me for long." He snarled.

"What the hell…" Jasper whispered in disbelief as he watched the pair.

"What?" Cora whispered back.

"I'm being hunted by a bloody raccoon and a living tree?"

"Shush."

"Are you serious right now?!" He hissed.

"Shut up – come on!" Cora hissed back as she grabbed his arm and dragged him away and made their way back to the city.

"Hey Groot, be quiet for one sec will ya?" Rocket said suddenly has his ears twitched.

Groot stared at him blankly for as Rocket walked in a circle in silence and then stopped.

"Huh, I thought I heard something." He muttered.

"I am Groot."

"No, it wasn't my footsteps! Anyways, we need to change our approach towards Cora and the Starling boy."

"I am Groot."

"We don't play nice, Groot. That's not how it works." Rocket tapped his foot as he put his hands on his hips then clicked his fingers. "I got it, I know exactly what we need to do."

Rocket proceeded to stride back into his ship and then turned back to Groot

"You coming with me, buddy?"


	6. The Centaurian with the mohawk

_**Hello everyone!**_

 ** _Sorry that the wait was a little longer than expected. I have had such a busy weekend moving into my new house I haven't had time or wifi to post but I do now! I just want to thank you guys again for getting this over 300 this is so wonderful I honestly didn't think this would do well so it means everything that people read this! Do let me know if you have any feedback at all - otherwise I hope you guys enjoy this chapter!_**

 ** _\- esgaroths_**

* * *

For Cora, things seemed to have settled to her perspective. A long while had passed since her last encounter, battling it out with Rocket and Groot on their ships. She had managed to escape with Jasper under Rocket's nose whilst trying to settle his anger over being hunted down by an animal and tree figure; explaining that they were more sinister than they appeared. When they parted ways after that day, they continued with their usual jobs with Cora at her shop selling her Terran items after repairing the damage from Rocket and Jasper working at the bar as usual. They kept their promise to each other and stayed within public areas as well as escorted each other to work. Because of the normality heading back into her life, it had convinced her enough that Rocket and Groot had ceased with their efforts.

Cora was pondering about the recent events in her vacant shop. She expected nothing less at this time of day, knowing it was a popular time for lunch breaks for Xandarians. She had decided to fill up her time by restocking her shelves and told herself that she would go for her break when she was done. Eventually, she had completed her task and began locking up the shop, entering a code to prevent people from lifting the shutter. She then felt for her blaster in her back pocket which was present and nodded to herself before proceeding to the centre.

She decided to make the trip in a leisurely pace, allowing herself to be swallowed up by the crowds of people walking to various destinations. She mentally listed ideas of what she wished to eat, deciding whether to go visit Jasper on her break and eat there or whether to grab something from a stall. Cora then realised she was already nearing the market place and decided to head in that direction for convenience. She noticed somebody had recently started walking next to her but at a distance; it wasn't unusual since some streets were rather packed and people would unintentionally walk side by side, however, this moment felt rather sinister. She felt uncomfortable as she felt the stare from that person crawl down her back. Cora shook this off and headed towards a water fountain; sitting on its edge. She watched the person walk off into the distance and sighed.

She stared at the walkways in front of her and left herself with her thoughts for a long while, watching the people walk across them – one person was even looking out at her way, appearing to admire the view of the city. The sound of trickling water soothed Cora and she absent-mindedly dipped her fingers through the current of water spouting from the fountain. After her little rest, her stomach grumbled which signalled for Cora to grab something from a stall on her way back to the shop. Turning away from the fountain, she rose to her feet and proceeded to walk; only to be halted by an arrow, its tip pointed dangerously close to her face.

Cora immediately froze, one sudden movement and she knew that arrow would sink into her skin. She had no clue what to do – she focused on the arrow that was frozen in mid-air, almost as if it was locked on to her. During her time in the galaxy, Cora had never seen a weapon such as this. She suddenly tried to from the arrow then heard a sharp whistle, causing the arrow to wobble in the air threateningly.

"I wouldn't try anything funny, darling." A thick southern accent spoke slyly, stepping towards the arrow, diverting her attention from it.

In front of her was what she perceived to be someone of the Centaurian race, although she wasn't entirely sure. He wore a long trench coat with thick black boots, trousers and jumper. She eyed him dubiously, occasionally eyeing the arrow.

"Well, for starters, try putting that arrow away and I won't try anything."

"I ain't interested in negotiations." He replied, with a smirk.

"Fair enough."

Cora then felt for her blaster and pulled it out, only for what she thought was her blaster turning out to be a small water pistol. She sighed and shook her head, cursing herself for arming herself with the wrong gun.

"Didn't think you'd give up so easy." He chuckled.

Cora then pointed it at his face with a serious expression on her face. She figured if she put on the act that the gun could actually do damage, it could possibly put this person off guard.

"Oh, you're really gonna try it again?"

"Just you wait and see." She said, trying to maintain a straight face.

The Centaurian simply whistled, causing the arrow to circle around Cora as she flinched, since she expected the arrow to hit her. She knew he was using scare tactics on her and she wasn't going to give in to it.

"You won't kill me, will you?"

"Scared are ya?"

"No, it was just an observation – you clearly want me alive."

"You have some smarts for a Terran girl." He said putting his hands on his hips. "I suggest ya put that whatever Terran device ya have in ya hand away before things get a lil messy."

"I don't mind a little mess." Cora shrugged.

Stretching out the pistol closer to the Centaurian, she squirted water at him, causing him to jolt out the way and gesture for two people to burst out from the crowd and grab Cora, keeping her still as she attempted to struggle against them, dropping her water gun as one of them confiscated it. He whistled once again and sent the arrow towards Cora, the tip resting lightly on her forehead as she grimaced.

"You think you're so cool with your small metal mohawk don't you?" She said with a shaky laugh, growing worried.

"What in the hell is a mohawk?" He demanded.

"It doesn't matter."

"Listen carefully sweetheart, you're gonna come with me – no questions asked, no trouble."

"If I'm to come with you I should at least know who you are."

"Now what did I just say to ya?" He snarled.

"I'm just curious." She spoke, looking up at the arrow nervously."

"The name's Yondu. Now ya know. Don't give me anymore trouble."

"Well Yondu, your threatening behaviour must have surely alarmed the Nova Corps by now. What are you going to do when they show up to take you away."

"My sources say you could help me get what I want right now." Yondu said thoughtfully. "But they did use the word 'could.' I can try other ways. I can kill ya when the Nova Corps get here or kill ya now if you don't start cooperating. It don't really matter to me."

"That's a really warm invite." She spoke sarcastic.

"I try to be a good host, darlin'."

"I'll come with you." She sighed, rolling her eyes.

"Thought you would budge in the end." He smiled wickedly as he whistled and the arrow whizzed around; leaving a trail of fading red light and caught it in his hand effortlessly before signalling for his crew to follow.

They began to push Cora forward, gripping her tightly as she was guided to wherever it was they were leading her. She had no idea who Yondu was or what he did, but she could instantly tell that he wasn't somebody that should have their patience tested.


	7. Humie Bait

Cora was lead inside a dim-lit ship by Yondu's companions. With Yondu walking in front, he was unaware of the dirty look that she gave him; she was feeling extremely bitter towards him and herself. As she walked on, she wondered why she allowed herself to get into this situation, she should have waited fought her way out of it one way or another. They began to approach the cockpit of the ship, where Cora was tied to one of the passenger chairs and Yondu stood behind her triumphantly. He began commanding various people to start up the ship and soon enough it began whirring; ready to take off.

Clearly, he was in a hurry according to Cora, he demanded that the ship make a space jump somewhere. She wasn't fully listening, she was trying to figure out why she was here, what Yondu's intentions were. Once everyone was seated and strapped in, she felt the G-force claw at her as the ship was propelled across the galaxy. It seemed like the high speed would never end for her, until it slowed and the stars were no longer white lines across the windows. She released a sigh of relief, but grunted in pain after feeling the rope dig into her arms.

"Would you like to loosen these ropes for me?" She asked bitterly.

Yondu turned on his seat to face her then undid his belt and stood up, walking towards her.

"Well, it depends; will it get you to talk?"

"About what?"

He smirked at her before briefly turning to his crew.

"How far away are they?"

"They're on radar." One person replied.

Yondu nodded then put his hands on his hips. He strolled around as Cora's eyes followed his movements cautiously.

"What do you want to talk about?" She pressed.

"What did you shoot me with?" He questioned.

"Sorry?"

"Tell me what this lil contraption is." He continued as he took Cora's water pistol from one of the men that grabbed her and he dangled it in front of her face.

"You took me hostage because you want know what I shot you with?!"

"Well, that's not the only reason darlin'."

"You wouldn't understand what it is; it's Terran."

"I don't need to understand, I just want you to get me a bunch of 'em."

Cora started giggling at the request that earned her a confused look from the Centaurian. He then pointed the water pistol at her face which made her laugh more.

'Why the hell do you want this?" She wheezed.

"No other clans have seen a kinda weapon like this before – it could get me a lot of units and do some damage." He shot back warningly as he held the water gun level. "So why don't ya get me a whole load of 'em after you tell me where your friend is?"

"What do you mean by friend?"

"Listen girl, I ain't letting you outta here until you give me what I want – got it?"

"I'm not doing that for you." Cora said flatly.

Yondu scrunched his face up in anger and then pressed the trigger, squirting water in Cora's face as she cackled with laughter. This confused him more and he tossed the water pistol aside as it clattered on the floor and he took out his own blaster and held it to her head.

"You will tell me how to switch the settings on that blaster of yours." He growled.

"To get it to do what? It only shoots water, dumbass. I shot you with water, how does that make you feel?" She smirked, despite being held at gunpoint.

"You must be out of your damn mind to think you can outsmart me darlin'. Screw that Terran crap; tell me where the boy is!"

"What boy?!" She argued, not wanting to give up Jasper.

Yondu grumbled and was about to pull the trigger when his comrades interrupted him quickly from his recklessness.

"They're requesting permission to board the ship." One of them stated.

He then lowered the blaster and put it back in his pocket. Cora hadn't realised she had squeezed her eyes shut in fear until she opened them and saw him stride away from her.

"Get 'em up here."

She exhaled slowly, despite her hands feeling cold they were clammy after a narrow brush with death. She sometimes regretted her nature of retaliating with people. As she sat in her seat, she witnessed Yondu's men manage the controls. She began to think of possibilities as to why the follow him as a leader, what they do as a group as well as why they too want Jasper. Although it surprised her, it wasn't a great shock that it was a possibility others could be looking for him too.

Yondu was in the middle of pacing around the room as he waited for his guests. Cora could tell he had become rather agitated by her. She then focused her attention at the doors to the cockpit to see what they would reveal. She heard faint footsteps become louder, one set was significantly lighter than the other footsteps that sounded very clunky and heavy. The doors then hissed as they slid apart, revealing none other than Rocket and Groot.

Cora sighed and shook her head. This caused Rocket to divert his attention from Yondu and look at her, then he began to frown in dismay.

"Yondu, this wasn't the one I wanted. Take it back!" He growled.

"I'm not an 'it!'" Cora spat.

"Relax, fur-ball." Yondu said as he gestured for them to come closer. "I know this ain't the one you lookin' for but it will lure him right where we want him."

"You're using this humie as bait?" The raccoon questioned, pointing a claw at her.

"He's gotta have an incentive to hand himself over." Yondu pointed out.

"I am Groot."

"Groot's right, you promised us the Starling boy - you broke your promise."

"I always deliver my promises." Yondu affirmed. "Anyways, I'm gonna sit back and wait for the boy. Take care of the brat." He added as he sat in his chair and put his feet up on the control panel, looking out of the windscreen.

Cora narrowed her eyes at Rocket, unimpressed to be reunited with him again. Rocket folded his arms at her whilst Groot stood on the spot, lost in his own little world.

"You just don't give up do you?" She said dryly.

"I don't give up on ten thousand units, girlie."

"Is that how much he's up for?" She spoke, widening her eyes. "Why?"

"I am Groot."

"Yes I get it, your name is Groot – this repetition thing is not cute anymore."

"Oh, that's just Groot for you." Rocket explained. "He don't talk the same way we do."

"I am Groot."

"I see, so what are you; his personal translator?" She spoke and raised an eyebrow.

"What does it matter to you, girlie?"

"Just trying to make conversation. It looks like I'm going to be stuck here for a while."

"It won't be for long if the boy gets his ass over here."

"He's not going to fall for it." Cora spoke adamantly. "You're going to have to do better than use me as bait."

At that moment, the speakers in the crackled, indicating a new signal trying to connect. Yondu's men began frantically entering codes into the panel to strengthen this foreign signal. A broken voice began to emerge and stabilise itself.

"What the hell have you done with her?" Jasper's Scottish accent echoed across the ship.

Cora sunk in her seat in disbelief. She cursed at him in her head for revealing himself. She knew their situation was rather dire and that he had now complicated things more. She couldn't help but question how he was able to find her without knowing anything about her disappearance. It was Yondu's response that puzzled her more.

"It's been a while since I've heard from ya, boy."


	8. Concerning business

It had then been discovered that Jasper had left his ship idle and put on a space suit to float across to break into Yondu's ship. After he began to engage in conversation with Jasper, he had explained this plan and was willing to go to the cockpit to speak face to face. Cora was still mulling over Yondu's response, completely unaware that Rocket and Groot were trying to grab her attention.

"Uh hello? Humie! Listen up."

She rapidly blinked and grounded herself, looking at Rocket who had climbed onto her lap and stood right in her face.

"What?!"

"Are you part of this?" He spoke accusingly.

"Part of what?"

"Whatever that boy's planning in his dim-witted brain of his."

"No, not at all…" She trailed off, still distracted by her thoughts.

Rocket sighed and turned to Groot, who just shrugged his shoulders.

"Terrans." He muttered under his breath.

She then looked down at Rocket once again and frowned.

"Will you get off my lap now, raccoon?"

He grumbled in response, putting a hand on his back where his blaster rested as a warning to her. He then jumped off from her lap and at that moment the doors in the cockpit parted to reveal Jasper; appearing rather collected as he strolled straight towards Yondu before noticing Cora tied to the chair. He halted in his tracks and then glanced back at Yondu.

"Cora…" He said quietly

"Knew it was all it took to get ya here." Yondu smirked as he strolled towards him. "Untie the girl and get her outta my sight for now while the boy and I talk." He added, commanding his men.

She then allowed the men to loosen the ropes. As they worked on the ropes that bound her hands, she discreetly reached into the pocket of one of Yondu's men and put a hand on the handle of the blaster that was jutting out of it. Once she felt the ropes slip down from her legs and waist; she rose from her seat abruptly, arming herself with the weapon and pointed it at Yondu as everyone present stood in shock.

"Right, I am not going anywhere until I get some answers." She growled.

"This business don't concern you." Yondu said, holding Cora's gaze with a cold glare.

"I don't care. I want to know what the hell is going on!"

"Cora; it's okay." Jasper instructed coolly. "I've got this."

"I'm not leaving you alone with him, Jasper."

"Please just-"

"No, we're going to sort this shit out together!"

"Cora-" Jasper spoke, growing more agitated.

"Let me help-"

"Cora just get the hell out!" Jasper shouted, clenching his fists.

Anger frothed inside her chest as it heaved up and down. She glared at Jasper, gritted her teeth then tossed the gun to one side in frustration and Rocket and Groot watched it skid across the floor. The whole room, including the henchmen, was in total silence. Yondu smiled, amused by the whole situation.

"You two, watch the girl and get her out." Yondu spoke to Groot and Rocket.

She turned to the duo and gave them a frown, warning them not to come any closer. Rocket simply folded his arms and turned to Groot.

"You know what to do big guy."

"I am Groot."

"No!" Rocket groaned. "The other thing."

Groot blinked and nodded turning his beady eyes to Cora and stretching out his wooden arm towards her, snaring her in his vine-like fingers and lifting her off the ground as she retaliated violently. Groot gave no reaction to it and calmly carried her out the room as Rocket strutted in the lead in a proud fashion. They walked across a corridor and into an empty storage room full of cargo boxes. He then lowered her onto a box as Rocket hacked into the locking system of the door to lock it.

"He is such an arsehole." Cora yelled angrily, folding her arms.

"Who's the asshole?"

"Jasper."

"Really?" Rocket asked, genuinely surprised. "I thought you both on the same side."

"I don't know what the hell he's playing at but he needs to cut it out."

"Leave him to it, I'm stuck with you for now so I don't wanna hear your constant complaining." Rocket said in a strict manner.

"Then don't give me a reason to complain." She shot back with a sarcastic smile.

Rocket then tapped his foot, growing impatient with her stubbornness. Groot stood next to Cora in a crouched position being slightly taller than the room itself. Nevertheless, he seemed content according to Cora, but she could never read that blank expression of his. During the silence in the room, she racked her brain, trying to think of a conversation topic.

"So, how did you escape?" Cora asked Rocket.

"What are you talking about, humie?"

"There's got to be some reason as to why a raccoon is up in the galaxy. "You must have got abducted and –"

"Yeah yeah yeah, well done genius." He snarled.

"So, how did you end up escaping?"

"Ask me that again and you won't live to find out the answer."

"Alright then." Cora raised her hands defensively. "What planet are you from Groot?" She added, facing him.

"I am Groot."

"Groot, we don't trust her!" Rocket said to the tree-like figure in a scolding tone.

"It's not as if I understood the reply anyway." She said with a shrug.

"I am Groot?"

"What?"

"He's asking how you got here."

"Well, I… honestly don't know." She trailed off.

"How can you not know how you got here?"

Cora frowned to herself, trying to think hard but her mind was just blank with the occasional memory of meeting Jasper flashing in her head.

"Well I er, I just remember Jasper was with me – we were in this facility and um, we escaped in a cargo ship."

"That's it?" Rocket asked with a raised eyebrow.

"What do you want; a bloody life story?" She snapped.

"Oh boo hoo hoo, I don't care about your tragic back story. I just find it weird that you don't remember why you're here."

"Don't you think I haven't thought about that too? I have no idea why I'm here, who my family are, what my past life on Terra was… This is all I know really."

"So that's why you choose to stay." Rocket said with a small frown.

"I could say the same to you." Cora replied which Rocket gave no response to, simply falling silent and wishing to reveal nothing.

She rolled her eyes at him then turned away, staring at the cold, metal wall before her and she delved into her thoughts with Groot towering over her as Rocket sat in front of the door, taking his blaster off his back and began to tinker with it.


	9. The unravel of betrayal

_**Hey guys,**_

 ** _Just a couple of things before you read this chapter; I want to thank the people who have left such wonderful reviews on this story - you guys are so sweet and it really motivates me to share the next parts with you all! Secondly, I usually update once a week and I will continue to do so - thank you for being patient with the next parts and I really hope you guys enjoy this chapter and the ones ahead. Thank you guys once again I cannot describe enough how thankful I am!_**

 ** _\- esgaroths_**

* * *

Time seemed to take an achingly long time to pass for Cora slumped in the corner of the storage room under Rocket and Groot's watch. All she could do was leave herself to her thoughts as she stared up at the ceiling with a bored expression on her face. She noticed a panel high up on the wall which looked like a way into the ventilation. She knew there was no way her figure would fit through that gap. She turned to Rocket and a plan instantly flashed in her head. Admittedly, it was rather silly, but at this rate she was bored and if it was to fail, it would provide some entertainment for her.

She began giggling to herself, causing Rocket to look up from the circuits he was tugging at inside his gun and stop humming.

"Will you shut up, humie? What's the problem?"

"Nothing." She said slyly.

This made Rocket's ears prick up and he narrowed his eyes at her with suspicion.

"You better start explaining before I scratch your face off."

"You have no idea what's coming soon." She said with a smile.

"I am Groot?"

"Let's just say Yondu and his friends are going to get an explosive surprise in about three minutes time." Cora stated, folding her arms smugly.

"Are you serious? You really don't want to piss the Ravagers off, girlie – I ain't kidding." Rocket warned.

She briefly paused at the word 'Ravagers.' She had no idea what it was but decided now was not the time to ask for a explanation.

"Well, it's too late now." She shrugged.

Rocket shook his head at her and grumbled as he effortlessly reassembled his blaster then pointed it at her.

"You are going to tell me where that bomb is!"

"What bomb?"

"Don't play dumb with me! Where is that frickin' bomb of yours?" Rocket growled.

Cora then fell silent and then shifted her eyes nervously in the direction of the entrance to the vent, then looked back at the raccoon.

"Of course, you put it in the frickin' vent, how original." He spoke dryly.

She then suddenly scrambled onto her feet and attempted to climb up the boxes to the vent, only for Rocket to launch himself onto the boxes, dropping his blaster and jumping onto her back. She tried to wrestle him off but he persisted on climbing on top of her head to distract her.

"Groot, rip off that panel!"

Groot simply nodded and plodded over to the vent and with his inhuman strength, he pulled off the panel to the vent. Rocket then leapt off of Cora into the vent and scurried into the darkness. This caused Cora to lose her balance and tumble off the boxes into a heap on the floor. Groot looked at Cora blankly and watched her scramble onto her knees.

"I am Groot?"

She crawled quickly to Rocket's blaster and picked it up in her hands which caused Groot to turn back to the vent, growing concerned. She smiled wickedly and aimed with the gun.

"Good luck finding that bomb."

With that she fired the blaster, the impact jolting her back abruptly as the blast hit the door and made a big hole. She tossed it back on the floor and began to run.

"It doesn't even exist!" She shouted as she leapt through the hole in the door and rushed down the corridor.

Groot shook his head before leaning into the vent.

"I am Groot."

"Groot buddy, we've got a bomb to deactivate here." Rocket's voice echoed.

"I am Groot."

"She what?!"

* * *

Cora continued running down the corridors, heading back towards the cockpit. She would stop at every corner and peer from around it to look out for any of Yondu's men. When she felt ready, she would then run again and repeat the process. She had reached another corner and stopped, trying to pant as quietly as she could. A smile began to form on her face as she thought how she managed to deceive Rocket and Groot with such a weak plan.

"Suckers." She whispered.

She then leaned across the corner and stared out to find that the coast was clear. She then concealed herself behind the corner again and heaved a few more breaths. She broke out into a sprint, coming out of the corner and almost ran into somebody, causing a small squeak to come out of her as she stopped immediately in her tracks.

"Cora!" Jasper hissed.

"Jasper, you're okay!" She said in a low voice.

"You just couldn't stay put, could you." He replied disapprovingly.

"I was coming to get you." She shot back defensively.

"I told you I didn't need your help."

"Now is not the time to be shitty, Jasper. We need to leave!"

"Well, we'll go then." Jasper said skittishly, his anger fading.

Cora frowned at him and folded her arms, which earned her a puzzled look from him. He then turned back then looked back at her, shaking his head.

"Cut the crap, Cora – lets go." He said, putting a hand on her arm and leading her with him.

"I need you to tell me what is going on!" She demanded as Jasper shushed at her.

"Keep your voice down for God's sake!" He whispered harshly.

"How do you know Yondu and these Ravager people? Who are they? Did he tell you why you have a bounty on your head?

"That doesn't matter."

"Clearly it does – it's why we're in this mess!"

"If you just shut up for one second, we will no longer have a mess."

Cora sharply shook her arm off of Jasper's grip and glared at him. He turned around, growing more antsy and stared at her pleadingly.

"Piss off, Jasper." She spat.

"Okay I'm sorry." He huffed, trying to sound as genuine as he could in a rush. " I know I'm being rather blunt right now but please – we need to go!"

"Jasper boy – what is this right here?" The Southern drawl of Yondu questioned from across the room.

Cora turned around to see Yondu standing menacingly from across the corridor. Jasper gritted his teeth and paced around in defeat. She looked at both of them in a confused manner.

"Right I've had enough of this shit! Someone tell me what the hell is going on?!" She bellowed, meaning business.

"We had a deal, Starling. The girl stays and you go." Yondu stated.

"What the-" Cora asked, looking at Jasper and feeling her face growing warm and red with anger.

"What you tryna do here?"

Jasper fell silent and kept his gaze lowered towards the floor. Yondu tapped his foot impatiently and then pointed a finger at him.

"You had one job and that is to get that orb for me, boy. Fail me again or go back on your word and I will give you more hell than you could ever imagine." He snarled threateningly.

Cora narrowed her eyes at the mention of this orb. She had no idea what this orb was or what importance it had to Yondu and these Ravagers. It was Yondu's next sentence that made Cora's jaw drop wide open.

"Show me you have what it takes to be a Ravager."


	10. Tested loyalties

_**Hi guys,**_

 _ **I just want to say a huge thank you for getting this story to over 1,100 hits that is truly wonderful! I wish I can thank each and every one of you but please know I am so so grateful. I really hope you all are enjoying this story just as much as I have done writing it. To celebrate, this chapter is the longest chapter in the series so far and it has some important bits that go down so let me know what you think and enjoy it! I love you all!**_

 _ **\- esgaroths**_

* * *

Jasper shook his head at Yondu defiantly. The corridor was then in complete silence, tension was thick in the air and intense glares were being made at one another. He then suddenly grabbed Cora by the arm, took out a blaster from under his belt and made a shot at one of the pipes from the ceiling, causing a thick cloud of smoke to leak from above. This created a mask for Jasper to run away with Cora in tow and make a sharp left turn. He knew this would stall Yondu as he would be unable to figure out which turn in the corridor he made.

"Jasper, what the hell have you done?!" Cora wheezed as they both continue to retreat.

"What do you mean?"

"You got yourself into a crime gang – that's why you have a bounty." She accused.

"That's a bunch of bullshit!"

"It doesn't take a genius to figure it out. Yondu pretty much said it all. You knew him all along; you're a Ravager!"

"Shut up!"

"And you had the frickin' nerve to give me up so you could escape by yourself – unbelievable!"

"Just follow me to the escape pods and I'll explain everything there." He commanded sternly.

This earned him a disapproving look from her. Nevertheless, the pair carried on speeding through the insides of Yondu's ship. They were just about to turn a corner until a flash of light greeted them and they both dived out of its path into a heap on the floor. Cora looked up to see Rocket and Groot looming over her.

"You two think you're pretty slick, huh?" Rocket growled. "We are finishing this so you can stop being a pain in my ass."

Cora scrambled onto her feet but was halted by Rocket pointing his blaster up at her.

"Oh, you ain't going anywhere, humie! You're gonna wish you never crossed me!

"Unfortunately I can't stay – sorry to disappoint you." She replied dryly.

She was about to push Rocket aside and make a break for it, only for Jasper to raise his blaster at the raccoon whilst laying on the ground. He was about to take the shot until Groot decided to intervene.

"I am Groot!" He roared as he grabbed his friend and took cover, dodging the shot.

She swiftly turned to look at Jasper for a second then decided to sprint solo towards the escape pods. Jasper frowned at this and quickly got on his feet and ran after her. She quickened her speed after hearing his catch up to her and turned a corner to see a flight of short stairs leading to the escape pods. She leapt off the the top step and ran with a slight wobble towards the panel to the nearest pod and pushed the button to activate it. Once the pod opened, she scrambled inside and frantically punched in the coordinates back to Earth and was about to seal the door, only to have Jasper throw himself into the pod just as it closed.

"Why did you leave me?!" He yelled.

"Why did you agree for Yondu to keep me?!" She argued back.

"I was going to explain everything to-"

Suddenly the pod detached itself from Yondu's ship with an abrupt jolt, causing the pair to slide into a heap into one side of the pod. Cora crawled into a corner and tucked herself in it securely and Jasper did the same in the corner opposite her.

"Where is this thing going?" He asked as he peered out the small windows.

"Answer my questions first." Cora spoke sternly.

Jasper groaned and put his head in his hands. When he was ready, he looked up at her and heaved a sigh.

"Alright fine. Yes, I'm a Ravager."

Cora froze at his words that confirmed her suspicions. Even though Yondu confirmed it for her, she didn't want to believe it. She couldn't figure out Jasper's motivations for being part of a crime gang in space. Her inability to find words was because of her difficulty of understanding his part amongst the Ravagers rather than shock.

"Why Jasper?" She shook her head.

"I don't want to be anymore-"

"That doesn't change anything, you're still a part of it – why did you join them?"

"Yondu promised he would help me find the people that took us if I did what I asked him."

"Jasper you know that's impossible."

"It is, I think I have a lead."

"It won't get you anywhere; surely you must know that."

"Cora, don't you want to get back at them for what they did to us?"

"What about this orb Yondu was talking about?" Cora replied sharply, trying to steer away from the subject.

"That was my latest mission, I was meant to find it and give it to Yondu. He wouldn't tell me why he wants it though. I feel like he's hiding something, so I located the orb but I haven't got it."

"So, that's why he has a bounty on you." Cora affirmed.

Jasper nodded. "When he found out I hadn't got it he wanted an explanation. That was when I told him that I didn't want to be part of the Ravagers until he paid his end of the bargain and helped me. He told me the orb was far more important and… well, I was pretty pissed off as you can imagine. And because I was pissed off, he got pissed off and he sent me back on task. Instead of doing that, I went into hiding and took that job at the bar."

Cora remained silent and nodded at his words. Jasper stared at her, trying to decipher her reaction but sighed exhaustedly after failing.

"Will you tell me where we're going now?"

"Back to Earth." She mumbled thoughtfully.

"What, why?!"

"Because I've had enough of your shit and everybody else's shit, Jasper."

"That's not where I want to go!" Jasper groaned as he crawled to the panel on the far side of the pod.

"Well you shouldn't have jumped in then." She shot back.

"Why the hell are you making things much more difficult than they need to be?" He muttered under his breath.

"I would have easily cooperated with you if you didn't hand me over to a leader of a crime gang!" She replied, growing agitated.

"Right, we are going back to my ship." He grumbled as he rapidly entered the coordinates, causing the pod to make a sharp turn.

Cora held her breath and closed her eyes, stopping herself from having a heated outburst. When she felt ready, she released her breath and opened her eyes to see the Winged Cobra in sight.

"You were quite close by." She remarked.

"Do you have a space suit?"

"No."

Jasper fumbled in the pocket of his space suit and pulled out a spare and tossed it in her direction. She nodded in thanks and stuck the spacesuit onto herself and activated it. Jasper then activated his which was already stuck on his chest and then opened the doors. Cora stared out at the stars, the beauty of them comforting her slightly, then the both of them jumped out of the pod and glided across towards the door to the Winged Cobra. Jasper opened it and hoisted himself into the ship with Cora following his lead. The door automatically sealed behind them which gave them their cue to remove the space suits.

"Why don't you want to go back?" Cora asked folding her arms as she followed him to the cockpit.

"I have no reason to and neither do you."

"Well, I guess you're right." She admitted.

"You can try hide all you want from this but it won't solve anything." Jasper explained.

"Right, well speaking of hiding from things, care to explain why you were about to leave me with Yondu?" Cora questioned as she sat in one of the pilot seats.

"I wasn't actually going to-"

"Then what were you going to do?"

"It was all part of my plan."

"Enlighten me about your plan." She raised an eyebrow.

"I couldn't explain it whilst on the Ravager ship." He explained. "I was planning to come back for you until you gathered some information for me. I wanted you to be a mole since Yondu wouldn't tell me anything I wanted to know."

"You could have told me this before." She said frowning, trying to register his plan.

"I didn't have the time. I didn't realise Yondu got to you first."

"So, what were you going to do when you were actually bothered to come and get me?"

Jasper fell silent and his face grew serious. "Whilst in hiding, I've been forming my own clan. I have a few members already."

Cora's jaw dropped and her eyes widened at him. She was unable to pick a question out of the many that swirled around inside her mind.

"I mean, if Yondu won't help us then who will, Cora?"

"What do you and your clan do?"

"Pretty much the same as the Ravagers, we go after bounties, steal items for units and we monitor Yondu and his movements. We're on our way to becoming a notable clan! I'm also trying to track down the lab with help from my spies." Jasper spoke proudly.

"Jasper… this seems so wrong." She said uncertainly.

"I'm doing this for us, Cora – to get closure. You have to help, please!" He pleaded, his eyes begging her. "I want you to join; we can get back at Yondu and that tree and raccoon. We can make our mark in the galaxy. We can find out what happened to us!"

She stared into his eyes with feelings of uncertainty coursing through her body. She couldn't decide at this point in time – this was all so new to her. She felt almost betrayed by Jasper despite his belief that his intentions would benefit them both. She chewed on her lip in deep thought as Jasper frowned at her with his intense gaze.

"Are you in?"


	11. What's the plan?

_**Hi everyone,**_

 _ **Long time no see - I'm sorry this was such a long wait for the next chapter. I've been so busy lately and will be until mid December time. I promise I will become more regular with updating after then and in the new year as I definitely won't be busy then my work load will be a lot less than what it is now. Also, please hold tight the Guardians and the Guardians plot line are coming soon in 3 chapters time! I want to thank you all for still reading and for those who gave it reviews, follows and favourites - you guys are all stars and I appreciate you loads. Now, enjoy this long overdue chapter and let me know what you think!**_

 _ **\- esgaroths**_

* * *

In her head, Cora knew that she wasn't going to agree to joining Jasper's newly established group to rival the Ravagers. She had no idea how to tell him – she didn't want to hurt his feelings but she knew what he was out to do was for the wrong intentions. He continued to stare at her, quietly demanding an answer that she did not want to give. She heaved a sigh and stared at the ship door.

"Where are you headed now?" She asked with a thoughtful frown.

"That's not an answer." Jasper grumbled.

"Oh, for god's sake just tell me!" Cora shot back in an annoyed tone.

"I'm meeting with my crew – I won't tell you where unless you want to join me." He spoke cryptically.

"Set up the course."

Jasper looked at her oddly for a moment then gave a brief nod and climbed the stairs to the cockpit of the Winged Cobra. When he was out of sight, she stood briefly on the spot hesitantly, and pondered on what she should do. Slowly, she put her hand on the button of her space suit as she grew more adamant on her decision then pressed it, feeling the suit engulf her. She marched over to the door and activated it then ran out of the ship and leapt into space.

As she floated into the open space, she felt a sense of calm fill her. She had no idea where she was going to go or what she wanted to do, but for the first time in a long time, she didn't care. She enjoyed drifting off aimlessly in outer space. She allowed herself to float across as her mind went blank and began to slowly shut her eyes until she noticed a laser beam travelling towards her.

Instantly, she propelled herself away from its course and turning her head to find its source but to no avail. She frowned to herself and continued to float aimlessly until she felt something pull her from behind. Cora grunted as she tried to pull herself forward but the strange force was dominating her. Looking behind her, she saw a ship with its cargo door open. Knowing there was no way to resist, she allowed herself to be dragged inside the ship. Everything went dark as the doors closed and she made harsh contact with the cold, metallic floor. The force had ceased but she had developed an odd sensation in her lungs that felt like she was being deprived of air.

She panted, and deactivated her space suit trying to gulp air but it was not enough. She wheezed and grew light headed until the lights flickered to life and a beeping sound echoed across the room, drowning out a robotic voice that repeated a various command on loop. Slowly, she felt the pressure in her head cease and the burning in her chest fade as she breathed in air. After taking a moment to composed herself, Cora began to examine her surroundings.

The cargo hold was tiny and compacted with boxes. She had landed in between two boxes and used them to hoist herself up; her legs weak from the ordeal. To her dismay, she rose to find Groot towering over the boxes, standing by the cargo hold exit. She groaned and flopped over a box exasperatedly.

"Really?!"

Groot simply stared at her blankly and blinked.

"This is Rocket's ship isn't it?" She said dryly as she straightened up.

"I am Groot."

"Come on then, take me to your little pal." Cora sighed as she approached him slowly, still trying to find her balance.

"I am Groot." He gestured and began to lead the way.

Cora obeyed and clambered up a flight of stairs behind him which lead to a metal door that slid apart to open access to the main deck. Groot had to duck to squeeze through as Cora walked through easily. Groot then announced their arrival with his usual three words and Rocket spun around in the pilot's chair to face them.

"I noticed you tried to fire at me." Cora stated, folding her arms.

"Not true." Rocket argued back.

"Yeah ok then." Cora grumbled in disbelief and waved her hand dismissively.

A robotic voice then echoed from the ship's control panel to announce that the oxygen levels in the cargo hold had been restored and that the vacuum had been shut down. Rocket swivelled back round on his chair and pressed various buttons on the panel.

"Bet you had a whole lot of fun playing with your vacuum to get me on board your ship." She spoke whilst clenching her fists.

"That last part – also not true. It ain't my ship. But the first part is true." He added with a sly chuckle.

"What do you want from me this time, raccoon?" Cora spoke, marching towards him.

"One thing you should have gathered about me at this point is that I steal things; I stole this ship, I steal weapons – you name it. I also steal ideas, and the latest one to add to my collection is Yondu's idea of using you as blackmail bait."

"Well, it's not going to work anymore."

"Why are you so sure?"

"He's being an arsehole. I don't work well with arseholes." Cora stated bluntly.

"So that's why you jumped ship – literally." Rocket spoke thoughtfully.

"And here I am." She shrugged. "I have no idea what I'm doing to be honest."

"Well… me neither. You humies weren't supposed to fall out, you ruined the plan."

Cora sat into the pilot chair next to Rocket and drummed her fingers on the arm awkwardly as everyone fell silent in the room. Groot remained standing by the door, his eyes switching from Rocket to Cora. Rocket remained deep in thought as he stared out at the windscreen and twitched his nose.

"Surely you have an endless list of tasks with the Ravagers?" Cora piped up.

"Groot and I ain't Ravagers; Yondu and I just go way back."

"So, you literally have nothing?"

"Don't make me repeat myself, girlie."

"I am Groot."

"No! We're not taking her back home!" Rocket exclaimed.

"I don't want to go back to Terra, Groot." She spoke adamantly.

"He meant Xandar."

"Then in that case, I agree with Groot. Take me back to Xandar."

"A please would be nice." Rocket taunted.

"Please."

"No."

"What the hell is your problem?!" She yelled.

"Well what's in it for us?" He growled in reply.

Groot then strolled over to the control panel and picked up the TV remote that had been left on the control panel. He smiled at it then slowly stretched it out towards Cora.

"I am Groot."

"What have I told you about making deals without going through me first?" Rocket scolded.

"I am Groot."

"Of course it's broken. Terran stuff is a bunch of crap, Groot."

"What's up?" She asked Groot, frowning at the remote.

"I am Groot." The tall, tree-like figure spoke in a sad tone as he pressed a button on the remote and the red light did not glow.

"I've tried fixing it but there's some sort of compartment that requires a Terran part that we obviously don't have in the galaxy." The raccoon added for clarification.

"Oh I see, the batteries have ran out." She nodded understandly. "Right, now it's my turn to make a deal."

"Go on." Rocket asked, leaning forward after being intriegued.

"If you take me back to Xandar I will give you batteries to fix your remote – how does that sound."

Groot nodded, clutching the remote to his chest.

"No way!" Rocket shot back. "That's not happening."

"I am Groot." Groot spoke, turning his attention to his furry friend.

"Come on buddy, get over it."

"I am Groot." He said in a lower tone than usual, causing Rocket to become firmer with him.

"I said no, do ya hear me?"

"I am Groot."

"Groot it's just a frickin' piece of-"

"I AM GROOT!"

Groot's sudden outburst caused Cora to sit back in her seat and stare at him in awe as Rocket stood on the chair and curled his fists into a ball. He then sighed and rubbed his forehead in frustration.

"Okay I'm sorry, we'll go. We'll go to Xandar. You happy now?"

Cora smiled at this answer and then turned to Groot to see his response.

"I am Groot." He smiled and patted Rocket lightly on the head with his wooden hand.

"I'll let you get away with touching my head this time."


	12. Crashing down

_**Hey guys!**_

 ** _Happy New Year! I hope you all have an amazing year and everything you wish for comes true. I am here with another chapter for you and to let you know my busy period is now over so I will update as much as I can this week to make up for my absence then go to updating regularly once a week for you all. Enjoy this chapter and the following chapters to come - please let me know if you're enjoying the story!_**

 ** _\- esgaroths_**

* * *

"What's that?"

"That's an umbrella." Cora replied whilst putting another packet of jaffa cakes in a cardboard box.

"Is it some sort of weapon?" Rocket asked as he observed it in his hands.

"Not everything is a weapon, Rocket."

"Well… if you think about it…" The raccoon shrugged thoughtfully.

She gave him a look and her eyes began quickly scanning the shelves to and fro. Rocket carried on fiddling with the umbrella until he found the button to open it, making Groot jump seeing the umbrella open.

"Don't open it indoors – it's bad luck." She lightly scolded, shaking her head.

"I am Groot."

"Don't be an idiot, Groot. This would make the worst shield." Rocket argued.

Cora carried on packing items into the box and when she was satisfied, she scooped it into her arms and proceeded to the back room of her shop with Groot and Rocket in tow.

"You won't break the doors down if I let you in this time, right?" She said with a cheeky smile.

"I am Groot."

Rocket simply nodded after a small grunt, causing Cora to give a small nod then enter the code to unlock the door. She switched on the light and walked to towards a shelf with stacked boxes, placing her box down and quickly observing them lightly dragging her finger across them until she found what she wanted. She fumbled through the right box and pulled out three boxes of batteries.

"Here Groot, catch!"

She chucked them over to Groot's direction and he caught them effortlessly in his hand. He smiled in thanks and held the batteries tightly.

"I stuck to my end of the bargain. I feel like we have nothing to owe each other anymore."

"I guess you're right for once, humie." Rocket spoke sheepishly.

"I am Groot."

Cora smiled at Groot then looked at Rocket for a translation.

"He says thanks."

"No problem." She nodded.

An awkward silence had spread across the room and her eyes drifted away from Rocket and Groot. The raccoon tapped his foot and folded his arms whilst his tall sidekick just stared blankly and remained still.

"I need to go do something." She announced awkwardly.

"Groot and I need to… find something to do." The animal replied with a shrug.

"Well you know where the door is." Cora said slowly with a forced smile.

Rocket did a brief hand gesture as a goodbye and began to exit the shop as Groot followed slowly behind. She let out a sigh of relief and watched them leave. She didn't know what to feel about that pair; all she could say was that she had a very interesting time with them. She knew they would be memorable to her for sure. She let out a small chuckle and proceeded to pack her purple, spiky tortoise shell bag with food, drink and various keepsakes she wanted to take with her; for a laugh, she then decided to put two small water pistols inside as well as her large water pistol. Once it was zipped up, she searched for her blaster and slid it under her belt. She was about to pick up her bag when she remembered her Terran alcohol back at the bar; Jasper's bar.

She knew he would not be happy if she was to take it; and she knew that she could easily grab some back at Earth, but she didn't want to make the trip or bring too much attention to herself. Although, stealing the alcohol would cause attention to her eventually but no for a while – she knew Jasper was currently caught up in his overly-ambitious plans. She decided that she would go ahead and take it.

Cora straightened up from crouching and exited her shop. Her feet automatically taking the route to the bar. The streets were rather quiet today but she knew it wasn't lunch time for most people, she made a left turn and continued to walk onwards until she noticed Jasper standing in the middle of the street facing her with an unsettling gleam in his eye.

"What brings you back to Xandar, Jasper?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I should be asking you that question." He said in a 'as-a-matter-of-fact' tone to his voice.

"How is that a mystery? I just wanted to go back home."

"You left me." He stated, a hint of bitterness slithered into the sentence.

"Well you gave me the choice. Sorry it wasn't the one you wanted me to pick."

"But the way you spoke suggested you wanted to come with me."

"I know I'm sorry Jasper –"

"You're the only outsider that knows about my plan – I can't risk Yondu finding out about it."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Cora said dubiously, sensing Jasper's odd aura.

"It means you're going to come with me and help me find out what happened to us." He insisted.

"And what if I don't want to?"

Jasper heaved a deep breath and tightened his fists. "Think about this, Cora."

"I've already thought about it." She shot back adamantly. "So, what are you going to do? Are you really going to fight with me?"

"You're testing me, Cora." He replied through gritted teeth.

"Jasper." She spoke solemnly, growing worried about his reaction. "I really don't want to fight with you, get on with what you're doing and I'll get on with my life at the shop. Let's not make a fuss."

He stormed over to her, getting dangerously close to her personal space. She frowned at him and straightened her posture, trying to mask the fact she felt intimidated.

"I'm going to give you one last chance to decide."

Seeing the angry energy radiating from him made her realise that he was capable of causing harm if he wanted – it wasn't the side he let her see and now she had seen it, she felt wary of him. The friendship they shared was made numb by the aggression from Jasper and Cora knew for certain that she wanted no part in his plans. She stepped back to create a comfortable gap between them and shook her head.

Jasper rubbed his forehead with his hand and looked up at her with his jaw clenched. He slowly got out his blaster and aimed it at her.

"Of course you were the one who shot at me when I left the ship." Cora said dryly, unsurprised.

"I can't let these plans get to Yondu." He spoke with a stern expression, his armed hand unwavering.

"So, you're going to kill me for it – after what we went through together." She spat.

"I'm sorry." He said, his voice lacking any form of empathy that the word 'sorry' should have with it.

"No, fuck you Jasper." Cora spoke venomously.

Jasper's finger began to curl over the trigger and Cora threw herself out of the way onto the ground and she heard the shot miss. She took out her own blaster and observed her surroundings. She didn't want to fire at Jasper unless she absolutely had to, she needed a distraction to help her get away. She could see a small stand selling fruits that grew on Xandar, a bar, a shop that sold ship fuel – an idea clicked in her head.

She fired at the shelf that held the fuel canisters, the shelf broke apart instantly at the impact as the fuel spilled out in between Jasper and Cora. She got back on her feet and before Jasper could react, she braced herself and fired at the fuel spillage, causing it to burst into flames in an instant. Jasper backed away quickly and grunted in frustration, knowing Cora would have made a run for it.

She could feel the tears fill her eyes but she gritted her teeth, knowing now was not time to cry over something so petty. It was petty to her, and she couldn't understand why she was even on the verge of tears. Sure, she knew it hurt that Jasper proved that he was capable of harming her and had completely tossed away their friendship to chase after his reckless goals, but it was a good thing in an odd way. Cora forced down the tears as she ran towards Jasper's bar and slipped through the entrance.

It was a lot quieter as it was early afternoon, she walked towards the bar to a member of staff and improvised a story about how Jasper left something behind and she was collecting it on his behalf. Once she received the approval to enter the back room, she marched to Jasper's locker, entered the code and eyed the Terran alcohol – she took her favourites, the gin and the rum. The whiskey that she had shared with Jasper, she wasn't very keen on whiskey and she scrunched her nose at it in disgust. Nevertheless, she swiped it from the locker and kicked open the back door to exit to the alleyway.

She sat on the ground, realising she had barely stopped since she retreated from Jasper and stared at the bottles she had placed in front of her. She liked the way they glinted in the light and it helped to clear her mind. She picked up the whiskey, wondering why she took it. It wasn't as if she'd drink it after all but she found the colour interesting, all the different brown and bronze tones it depicted when exposed to the light; however, it still made her think of Jasper.

Feeling the betrayal simmer inside her chest, Cora gripped the neck of the bottle and with a grunt and all her strength, she hurled the bottle against the wall, gathering temporary satisfaction watching the glass shatter and the droplets of the golden liquid crawl down from the wall to the dirt.


	13. A new beginning

Rubble and glass were littered everywhere and crunched under Cora's feet as she processed the sight before her. The shop was in utter ruin – all of her stock was destroyed, the windows smashed, the shelves collapsed. There was no doubt in her mind that Jasper and his clan had targeted her shop; a symbolism of his fury towards her. There wasn't a lot of smoke and there was only minor charring on the materials, which indicated to her that blasters were the cause of damage.

She sighed, her livelihood a dishevelled mess in front of her. Questions about what she was to do, where she was going to stay, how long it would take if she were to try fix the shop and whether she should return to Earth bombarded her mind despite knowing she did not have the answer to them for the time being. Cora stepped over what was the entrance, taking care to dodge the large chunks of rubble. She noticed that the back room had taken less of a beating compared to the front end of the shop – she though perhaps that they had limited time to cause as much destruction as they could.

Thankfully, as she walked into the back room, her purple, spiky backpack was left intact, although all her drawers had been rummaged through and more stock destroyed. She released a sigh before kneeling down to pick up her bag then stood back up whilst lugging it on her shoulder. She turned to exit the wreckage of her shop and noticed none other than Groot and Rocket staring at her from the outside. Cora held their gaze, unsure whether to be surprised or agitated by their presence. She felt nothing as she walked through the shop, the crackle of rubble under her shoes muffling her mind. She then picked up the bottles of alcohol that she had placed in front of the shop as the duo watched. Cora continued to walk a few more paces before sitting in a cross-legged position in front of the shop and simply stared at it with a blank expression.

Rocket and Groot said nothing. He couldn't figure out what she was feeling and he didn't like it. He figured that whatever he would say would cause a negative response. Groot, on the other hand, felt sympathetic. She looked rather small and run down in his point of view.

"I know you didn't do this so I'm not going to blame you." She stated.

Rocket gave a small nod in acknowledgement. A long duration of silence occurred before Cora broke it once again.

"Why are you here?"

"We were going after Starling again, heard signs of commotion around the area, came here thinking we'd find him but found you instead." Rocket replied.

Silence. Cora stared out at the ruins as Rocket twitched his nose and began to tinker with his gun out of boredom. After a while, Groot began to speak.

"I am Groot?"

Cora looked up at Groot and glanced at him before looking at Rocket with a blank expression.

"He wants to know what happened to your store." The furry creature explained.

"Take a look at it for yourself." She said, gesturing towards it with a sarcastic smile.

The two turned their attention briefly to the shop and looked back at Cora. She then huffed and dragged her knees into her chest and held them there, resting her chin on her knees.

"Jasper tried to kill me. I got away and he clearly didn't like that so he took it out on my shop."

Rocket's ears pricked up at this and he froze for a moment at her words before resuming to play with the mechanics of his gun. Groot looked down at Cora solemnly then knelt to her level and stretched out his wooden arm in front of her, revealing a small flower that had sprouted in the palm of his hand. Her eyes widened slightly as she examined the flower and felt tears about to escape from the corners of her eyes and she couldn't control it. She didn't understand why she was so touched by the gesture but she blinked rapidly and cleared her throat to supress her tears.

"Thank you." She murmured as she plucked the flower and held it gently in between her fingers.

"I am Groot." He replied as he stood up back to his tall and mighty figure.

"Geez, cut the sappy crap, Groot." Rocket grumbled.

"I am Groot." He said defensively.

"Yeah she's upset, I get it – what are we gonna do about it? I ain't wiping her tears."

"I don't expect you to." Cora spoke flatly as she clambered onto her feet and adjusted her backpack.

"Where are you going, humie?"

"Um…" Cora spoke unsurely as she fiddled with the flower then shrugged hopelessly. "Go get on with finding Jasper."

Rocket clicked all the parts to his gun in place then grumbled under his breath. He then gestured for Groot to follow him but he stood his ground, looking at Cora.

"I am Groot."

This caused Rocket to spin round to face his tall companion, ready to scold him for what he said until he frowned in deep thought. Eventually, he twitched his nose and nodded.

"That's actually not a bad idea, Groot. Hey humie – Cora!"

Cora turned round, surprised that Rocket had addressed her by her name for once.

"You're gonna help us. We'll take you in and we'll teach you what we do."

"Am I now?" She spoke thoughtfully.

"It ain't up for consideration. We don't throw offers like that out there often. You're gonna take it." Rocket commanded.

"Okay." Cora said with another shrug.

"Oh, and one more thing." Rocket added.

"What?"

"You're gonna give us some of this." He stated pointing towards the Terran alcohol which gave Cora a small smile and chuckle.

* * *

"Understand?"

Cora tried to give the most convincing nod to Rocket as she could. She wiped her clammy hands on the material of her full body suit and lifted her wrist that had her communicator on and switched it to the channel that connected with Groot's and Rocket's.

"You ain't gonna screw this up. You've trained weeks for this – also you won't screw this up because I won't let ya – that ain't happening. I don't let a mission fail." Rocket spoke adamantly. "Groot – you know your plan?"

"I am Groot." He affirmed.

"Good. Groot will also be right by your side so you won't screw shit up."

"Right." She nodded.

"You have ten minutes to get that chest." Rocket stated before entering the shop.

Cora followed Groot and reminded herself on what to do. Go to the back of the shop, check in with Rocket, wait for the signal, get into the room, grab the chest, escape with Groot, meet at the street corner. She looked up at the row of windows and remembered it was the third window from the right.

"It's just a bit further." She told Groot and gestured for him to follow.

They walked until she was directly underneath it. She fiddled around with the communicator, still a bit uncertain with the controls. She pressed the button to communicate with Rocket and began to speak only to realise she was on the wrong channel, as she heard her own voice coming from Groot's communicator. She tutted at herself and set it to the correct channel and pressed the button to speak.

"Rocket, can you hear me?"

"Yup." His voice spoke from the communicator.

"Groot and I are in starting positions."

"Noted. Wait for my word."

Rocket's voice cut off and Cora looked up at the window, pondering on different methods to get up through the window. She could use her jetpack but she knew that would attract too much noise, she couldn't see any crates that would give her some leverage. She then looked at Groot as he smiled back at her.

"Groot, would you be able to hoist me up the window?"

"I am Groot."

Cora paused for a moment, unable to decipher what he meant through that particular 'I am Groot.' She nodded at him and smiled awkwardly.

"I hope that meant yes because it's going to have to be a yes I'm afraid."

"I am Groot."

Cora's communicator began to buzz and she pressed a button to answer the incoming message.

"How's it going?"

"I corrupted the previous footage on all the security cameras and shut them all down. Your turn, Cora." Rocket instructed.

"Cheers." She responded and ended the transmission.

She then approached the wall and turned to Groot.

"Lift me up now, please."

Groot blinked then proceeded to lift her by the arms and through the open window. Her heart began to slam against her chest with the pressure and the experience of being lifted high up. She nodded in thanks to Groot and observed the room.

It had many cabinets and drawers where the chest could be. She pondered on which one it could be. She didn't have time to search them all – but the least she could do was try. Cora heaved a deep breath in before proceeding to the nearest cabinet and frantically rummaged through.

Nothing. Only objects that she was yet to be familiar with. They looked like Xandarian tools or parts. She rushed to the set of drawers next to it which were all strangely empty. Panic spread across her chest, worried that somebody else had taken the chest already – her fingers about to call Rocket on the communicator but she noticed they were filled with dust that showed no signs of finger prints.

Cora began to grow flustered and began pacing around the room. She had no idea where this chest could possibly be. She began to relay the information Rocket had given her; the chest was metal, plain, no engravings, small enough to carry in one hand. The owner of it was no one of interest until the contents of the chest were known. They were simply a person of interest. A thought then occurred to her: why was she focusing on hiding places if this person had no clue they were being investigated? They would therefore wouldn't be thinking to hide something.

She turned on the spot to carry on pacing and there it was, proving the point. The chest lay innocently on top of the drawers she rummaged through in plain sight. She blew out a breath and swiped the chest and called Rocket.

"You got it, humie?"

"I got it." She smiled.

"No time for celebratin' get the hell outta there!" He grumbled.

Cora hung up and jogged to the window and peered down to see Groot standing underneath the window.

"Groot!" She hissed to get his attention.

He looked up and stared at her blankly as she stared at him with an intense look, waiting for him to get her down.

"I need you to get me down." She said in a low voice, filled with urgency as she dangled her legs off the window ledge.

Groot took hold of her legs and lifted her off the window ledge, sending her upside down as she flailed about.

"Groot, you need to put me the right way up!" She wheezed, trying to get her wavy red hair out of her face whilst still gripping the chest.

He obeyed and flipped her the right side up, placing her on her feet. She wobbled when she made contact with the ground again, feeling dizzy and queasy from the ordeal. Groot gave her a smile and she smiled back, knowing he was only trying to help.

"Come on then, we've got to go." Cora ordered.

When she was ready, she broke into a run and Groot followed with leisurely steps. They headed to the end of the street which was the meeting point they agreed on with Rocket. As expected, they found him waiting there, he had his arms folded and his ears pricked at their footsteps.

"I gotta hand it to ya, you were quicker than expected, and under 10 minutes."

Cora stuck out her hand and handed over the chest. Rocket held it in both his hands and stashed it away.

"I honestly didn't think this would work – it was one of my most risky ideas for sure, but hey – I guess all that training paid off, humie." He admitted sheepishly.

"Thanks." Cora said with a small smile.

"I am Groot."

"He says you did a good job."

"Thank you for your help, Groot. Next time, don't hang me upside down." She added with a chuckle.

"Let's head back." Rocket said as he began to lead the way.

"I'll get out some of the rum so we can celebrate." Cora said enthusiastically.

Rocket turned his head towards her and flashed her a smirk before wiping it away with his usual, stern expression then mumbled loud enough so she could just about catch his words:

"You know… you're turning out to be okay, Cora."


	14. First impressions

_**Hey guys,**_

 _ **Here you have it - the first chapter where the other Guardians begin to show up. I really hope you guys like it - let me know what I could improve on or what you liked about it. I really enjoyed writing this chapter and I hope you all enjoy reading it. I'll let you all get on with reading it now :)**_

 ** _\- esgaroths_**

* * *

Months had passed since Cora's first mission under Rocket and Groot. She was gradually becoming more advanced in the art of bounty hunting – of course she could improve more before she would consider herself an expert in the matter. Rocket seemed to have warmed up to Cora; she figured he was rather private about his life generally, but he was less harsh in the way he treated her – just by a little.

Groot remained consistent with her. He was still his mild, innocent self that had an angry side to him if he wished to reveal it. She had continued to assist with bounty hunting and shared in the profits, drink and sleep. On occasion, she would make a quick stop to Earth and collect supplies and return. In spare moments, she would show Groot and Rocket Terran objects and they were especially interested in her Nintendo DS console. Cora was rather enjoying this life, she felt like she finally fit in with Rocket and Groot – she was no longer a tag on with a duo, they were a close-knit trio.

Rocket had decided he was bored and wanted to find them some work in the centre of Xandar. Cora hadn't been back since the first mission and the incident with Jasper; nevertheless, it hadn't changed. The centre at this point was packed with people so to get a better view, Rocket had them positioned by the fountain. Cora was sat on its rim with her chin in the palm of her hand as Rocket stood in front of her with a device in his hands whilst Groot stood next to them looking out at the people.

"Xandarians, what a bunch of losers." Rocket spoke.

"I guess that's one thing you can call them." Cora piped up, folding her arms across her chest.

"Hey Cora!" Rocket called over to her chuckling. "Come over here, look at this guy."

She approached Rocket and knelt to his level to look at the device – it was zoomed in on a Xandarian man with a rather odd haircut. Cora snickered at it and Rocket focused his attention next onto an Xandarian toddler holding a hand in order to walk.

"Look at that thing." He said in disgust. "Look how cool it thinks it is – it's not cool to get help. Walk on your own, you little gargoyle!"

"Jeez Rocket, it's just a kid." Cora laughed.

The device moved on to an elderly man chatting to a woman much younger than him. Cora shuddered at the sight.

"He seems rather slimy." She grimaced.

Light splashing made Rocket's ears prick up and he span round to see Groot taking gulps of water from the fountain.

"Groot, don't drink the fountain water, idiot – that's disgusting!"

Groot shook his head trying to appear innocent.

"Don't lie, we both saw you do it, Groot." Cora smirked.

Suddenly, Rocket's device started beeping and Cora grew stern, knowing it meant that the device had found a target.

"Looks like we got one." He spoke as he tapped on the screen. "Okay,humie, how bad does someone wanna find you?"

Cora's eyes widened at the fact there was another Terran in the galaxy besides herself and Jasper. Yet again, she knew there must have been previous humans around before as her presence didn't surprise Rocket, but they must have been rare as this was the first human she had seen in the galaxy that she did not know. A profile flashed up, revealing that his name was Peter Quill. He was wanted by none other than Yondu Udonta for forty thousand units. She pondered on his ties to Yondu and why he was wanted for so much. They watched the screen as he entered a shop.

"Forty thousand units?" Rocket said in disbelief. "Guys, we're gonna be rich!"

"Oh my god." Cora stated in shock.

The two turned to see Groot's reaction, only to see him completely oblivious and continuing to drink the fountain water. Rocket groaned and rubbed his forehead with his hand and Cora put her hands on her hips.

"What did we tell you?" She reprimanded.

"I am Groot."

"Come on the both of ya, sit down. We need a plan before he comes out the shop." The raccoon announced.

Cora sat herself down once again on the rim of the fountain and Groot slowly did the same. His size in a seated position still dominated the both of them by far. Rocket leapt onto the rim and stood so he could address both Groot and Cora.

"We'll go for a distraction and a surprise attack. Any volunteers to be the distraction?" Rocket asked, looking at Groot, who looked at Cora, causing Rocket to stare at her too.

Cora pretended to look around, hoping Rocket would go for Groot to be the distraction. Rocket sighed and marched towards Cora, waving his hand in the air to get her attention.

"Hey, don't act like you can't hear me! You're gonna be the distraction whether you like it or not."

"Really?" Cora groaned. "I was the distraction last time."

"Now you're gonna be the distraction again. I know what I'm doing, girlie. It makes perfect sense, you know humies better than we do – you are one!"

"I am Groot." Groot agreed.

"Alright, fine. You owe me a drink for this." She said rising to her feet.

"With the money we'll get, I'll get ya a whole bunch of drinks, Cora." Rocket replied with a smirk.

Cora nodded in response and took her blaster from under her belt, switching the settings to stun and put it back under her belt.

"Don't screw up."

"Of course I wont." Cora said confidently and proceeded to stride towards the human, as he exited the shop.

She had a rough plan forming in her head but she just wanted to go with the flow and keep his attention on her. She smiled to herself and continued walking towards him, bumping into him deliberately.

"Hey, watch where you're-" He started, but stopped when he got a look at her.

She stared at him back, trying to mirror the surprise when she first saw him on Rocket's device.

"You're human." She said, looking him up and down.

"So are you…" He said slowly. "And you're British."

"And you're American."

He chuckled at the response and he leant against the wall of the shop he had just departed from.

"How did you get here?"

"Um, I don't know really." She shrugged. "How did you get here?"

"Long story." He mumbled. "Anyways, tell me your name."

"Cora."

"Cora what?"

"Cora Briar." She rolled her eyes. "Now tell me yours."

"Peter Quill." He said in a cocky fashion. "But you might know me by the name, Star-Lord."

"I don't." She said flatly.

"You know, there's something about the British accent that's so…blunt." He said in his thick American drawl.

"I see your point." She admitted. "But part of me was actually being blunt."

Peter chuckled and began playing with a silver sphere, juggling it in his hands.

"What's that?" Cora asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Just business. Tried to sell it to a broker but he ain't having it." He stated.

"What happened?" A new voice piped in.

The two turned to see a green-skinned woman with dark hair and purple ends standing nearby, listening in to their conversation.

"I was just explaining to this newly found acquaintance here that a guy a backed out of a deal on me." He explained, gesturing to Cora.

"Who are you?" The woman asked Cora.

"Me?" She pointed to herself. "I'm just a Terran girl."

The woman hummed in response and turned her attention back to Peter.

"So, you didn't reach an agreement with this man?" She asked.

Something wasn't right about her Cora thought. She had only asked who she was and not Peter; almost as if she already knew who he was, but did he know who she was? Cora folded her arms and watched the conversation carefully.

"Yup. You know if there's one thing I hate, it's a man without any integrity." He explained. "Peter Quill. People call me Star-Lord."

Cora picked up that he introduced himself to this mysterious woman, confirming that they had never met before, despite her seeming to know who he was already. It meant only one thing, she was after him too.

"Shit." She whispered.

"You have the bearing of a man of honour." She spoke as Peter began to play with the silver sphere shaped object again and Cora looked around frantically for Rocket and Groot to come out for the surprise attack.

"Well, I wouldn't say that." He said with a cheeky grin. "People say that about me all the time but I wouldn't say that myself-"

In a flash, the woman grabbed the sphere Peter had and winded him in the stomach, making a getaway through the crowds. Cora grunted in annoyance and took out her blaster, aiming it at Star-Lord. She fired her shot at him shortly after he threw something at the woman that made her trip and tumble to the ground. Peter fell to the ground and Cora looked around again.

"Get out here you two!" She yelled as she walked towards the woman then knelt down beside her.

"Who the hell are you?!" She demanded, trying to take the sphere from the woman, only to have her land a punch on Cora's cheek.

This sent Cora face down on the ground, her face numb yet throbbing from the punch. She heard the woman scramble up on her feet as well as the running steps of Peter gaining on her. They began fighting with each other until something knocked the woman onto the ground near Cora. Cora slowly sat up with a hand on her cheek to see Rocket wrestling with the woman.

"Put him in the bag!" Rocket commanded Groot.

Groot began to grow roots and they spread towards the woman. Cora shook her head and stood on her feet armed with her blaster. She noticed Peter rising to his feet and making an escape with the sphere object and she began to pursue him.

"Him! Not her! Learn genders man." Rocket groaned before the woman tried to bite his paw. "Biting? That's not fair!"

Cora caught up to Peter and tackled him to the ground. She was about to stun him again when he kicked her blaster out of her hand and pinned her down.

"What do you want from me?" He pressed.

"Do you not know?" She said in disbelief.

"Well a lot of people have it out for me for different reasons." He replied with a smug look on his face.

"Clearly, I'm not the only one you're pissing off." She spat, giving him a sharp kick in his side.

He grunted in pain and curled up on his side. She grabbed the silver sphere and made a sprint back to Rocket and Groot, who were still engaged in a fight with the woman. She saw her throw Rocket to the side from her shoulders and break Groot's branches, causing him to make a whining noise. She ran straight for Cora but it didn't faze her, she continued to run to the woman and in the last minute, dodged her path and kicked her ankle so she fell to the ground.

"That's my way of calling it even." She growled and ran to Rocket and Groot and knelt beside them.

"Look what I picked up." She announced, wiggling the silver sphere in Rocket's face.

"Woah, that could score us some big numbers." Rocket said excitedly. "You're learning quick, Cora."

Before Cora could react, Peter grabbed her wrist and twisted it in an awkward way and she yelped in agony. The silver ball dropped from her grasp and Peter picked it up before Rocket could reach out for it.

"Right, I take it back. What did I tell ya? Rule number one, always watch your back!" Rocket scolded.

"Shut up – now is not the time!" She argued as she struggled in Peter's grip.

"I've gotta say, that is a cool backpack." Peter spoke, looking at the purple, spiky backpack she sported.

He was suddenly thrown back, letting Cora slip from his grasp. Cora ran from him and turned to see the woman pinning Peter down holding the silver object.

"Fool, you should have learned." She hissed.

"I don't learn. It's one of my issues." He then snatched the object back in his possession and attached a rocket launcher onto the woman, sending her flying to one side.

Before he could do anything else, Groot smothered him in the bag and hoisted him on his shoulder.

"Quit smiling, you idiot. You need to be professional." The raccoon spoke to his friend before spotting the woman approach the three of them. "You gotta be kidding me."

Cora pulled out her blaster and fired at her, missing each time and she swiftly dodged each shot. She then pushed Rocket away from her and took out a blade, attacking Groot with it and slicing off his arms. Cora clenched her fists at this but the woman got her payback as Peter electrocuted her as he made another get away. Rocket sighed and armed himself with his gun as Cora stood behind the raccoon and watched him.

"I live for the simple things, like how much this is gonna hurt."

A beam of electricity then shot out from the gun and Peter let out a cry of pain. His body slammed onto the ground as he rolled around.

"Yeah, writhe, little man." Rocket grinned with satisfaction.

Cora tended to Groot after he whined miserably looking at his missing arms.

"Don't worry Groot, they'll grow back." She said with a reassuring smile.

She gasped as herself, Rocket, Groot and the woman were caught in an orange beam of light that levitated them off the ground. She found that she couldn't get out of it and let her body go limp. She saw Nova Corps officers detain Peter whilst an officer in one of the many ships above them addressed Rocket by a name she had never heard before.

"Subject 89P13, drop your weapon."


	15. An unfriendly welcome to the Kyln

Cora was made to wait in a dark room alone, accompanied by two officers from the Nova Corps. She remained silent as she groomed her dirty nails, picking at them. She had no idea why she felt so nervous after being arrested. It wasn't as if she had a set of fuming parents to return home to or that it would show up on her criminal record on Earth. For all Earth knew, she was no one, or a missing person to a family she had no recollection of.

"You're next." An officer instructed and pushed her forward to a door that had parted open.

She walked tentatively towards the room. It was like a small box that was dimly lit, it had one large viewing window where more Nova Corps officers were watching. She was made to stand under the light and look directly at the officers. A holographic profile of her details appeared before them, although to her it was all inverted from her perspective standing behind it.

"This is Coralette Briar." One of the officers in front of her spoke.

"Cora." She growled.

"Be quiet!" The officer shot back then carried on talking to his colleagues. "Coralette Briar is another Terran. She escaped from an illegal testing facility in a cargo ship with one other Terran and made a living here on Xandar selling Terran objects in a shop, until she teamed up with Subject 89P13 and his pet flora colossus."

They all turned and stared at her and she frowned at them back, folding her arms defensively.

"Is there anything else you can tell us about yourself?"

"Like what?"

"Anything, we don't have much information in our database on you."

She fell silent and frowned in thought but her brain was coming up blank no matter how hard she tried to recall the memories of her getting on the cargo ship.

"Look Coralette, if you're not going to-."

"My memory got wiped - I don't remember anything. Even if I was lying and I did and I didn't want to tell you it'd be on your database – you know everything."

The officers held their gaze with hers and white noise filled the atmosphere of the room. An officer made a gesture to the side and the door she entered opened allowing a reluctant Peter Quill to be pushed into the room. He was followed by the mysterious and vicious green-skinned woman and Rocket and Groot. They were all lined up before the Nova Corps officers and entered more data into their system.

"Peter Jason Quill, Gamora, Subject 89P13, Groot and Coralette Briar – We're transporting you all to the Kyln."

* * *

"What is this Kyln place anyway?" Cora questioned as she walked alongside Rocket and Groot with Peter, and the woman she had now learned was called Gamora, behind them.

"Use your brain, Cora." Rocket grumbled. "It's a frickin' prison."

"No shit." Cora rolled her eyes. "Of course, I know it's a prison – the Nova Corps aren't going to let us go skipping back to Xandar after the mess we made. I was just asking because I wanted to know if this was different to a Terran prison."

"You've never been to a prison here before?" Peter asked with a raised eyebrow. "I find that very surprising since you hang out with those two."

"What are you saying, humie?" He shot back. "We ain't rookies in our profession, she's a new recruitment, and I've escaped 22 prisons so this one won't be any different. You're lucky they showed up, because otherwise, Cora, Groot and I would be collecting that bounty now and you'd be getting drawn and quartered by Yondu and those Ravagers."

"I've had a lot of folks try to kill me over the years but I ain't about to be brought down by a tree, a ginger and a talking raccoon." Peter taunted.

"I wouldn't call him that if I were you." Cora warned with a smirk.

"Why?" Peter lightly chuckled.

"Why does every call me a raccoon? What's a raccoon?" The animal said in an annoyed tone.

"What's a raccoon?" Peter mocked. "It's what you are, stupid."

"Ain't no thing like me, except me."

Peter fell silent and Cora smiled to herself trying to hold in a giggle. Rocket had his arms folded and Groot stood behind him quietly. Gamora stood looking highly agitated by everyone around her.

"So… this orb, what is it?" Peter asked openly, not minding who answered.

"I am Groot."

"So what? What's the orb?" He repeated.

"I have no words for an honourless thief." Gamora spoke in a low tone.

"Pretty high and mighty coming from the lackey of a genocidal maniac." Rocket said, earning him a sharp glare from her. "Yeah, I know you are, anyone who's anyone knows who you are."

"I don't know who she is." Cora said quietly to herself.

"Who is she?" Peter asked Groot.

"I am Groot."

"Yeah, you said that."

"I wasn't retrieving the orb for Ronan, I was betraying him. I had an agreement to sell it to a third party."

"I am Groot."

"Well, that's just as fascinating as the first 83 times you told me that." He spoke back sarcastically.

"Oh, Groot doesn't talk like we do." Cora explained. "I don't understand him most of the time, I try to take an educated guess based on his tone and expression."

"His vocabulistics are limited to 'I' and 'am' and 'Groot.' Exclusively in that order." Rocket added.

"That's gonna wear real thin, real fast. If I…"

Peter suddenly stopped in mid-sentence and noticed a guard going through their items. He gritted his teeth and rushed towards the guard.

"Hey – put that away!"

"Calm down, Quill." Cora called after him. "They confiscated all our stuff not just yours."

Peter ignored her as he watched the guard put the headphones on and press play on his Walkman and he clenched his fists.

"You son of a… Hey! Listen to me, you big blue bastard. Take those headphones off. That tape and that player is mine!"

Cora could hear Peter in the distance being struck by something and groaning in pain. She shuddered and carried on following the others until more guards appeared and commanded them to separate. Cora turned to Rocket and Groot worriedly, the raccoon simply nodded at her as a silent command to do as they said whilst Groot smiled at her and waved. She gave them a small wave in return.

The guard lead her through more corridors and she plodded on with her head and eyes lowered. They stopped and he shoved a plain white baggy medical gown in her arms it gave her a flashback of the time she was in the facility. It was earliest memory of her life that she could remember since a large portion of it was missing before that time.

"Get changed and open the door once you are done." The guard instructed and shut the door.

As she pulled off her body suit the memory in the facility stuck to her mind and she couldn't shake it off. Although she couldn't remember what else they did to her besides erase her memory of her identity, she knew it was not a pleasant time. The need to cry began to fill her chest and throat but she shook her head adamantly. She wouldn't allow herself to, she didn't see the point in missing something she didn't even know she had. She didn't even know what exactly was missing. Once she had dressed herself in the gown and untied the section of her hair that was in a ponytail, she pushed the button to open the door. She folded her arms at the guard, who simply gestured for her to follow.

Cora was lead to yet another room and made to stand on the spot. After waiting for a short period of time, she was sprayed with such force by a strange orange liquid. The strength of it pushed her forward but she began to brace herself against the force as she felt the gown sticking to her skin after being soaked and covered head to toe in the liquid. Eventually, it was shut off and she stood dripping and shivering.

A guard pushed her forward abruptly and another in front of her handed her a pile of prison clothes that consisted of yellow trousers and a yellow t-shirt. Cora wordlessly took the clothes, knowing she had to put them on.

"What was the fucking point?" She muttered under her breath, staring at the clothes in her hands.

She glanced up and saw Rocket drenched in front of her. She reckoned he must have got the same treatment as her. His back was turned towards her and she noticed some scars and strange markings within bald patches on his fur. Her heart sank slightly, adding up the pieces in her head of Rocket's backstory. Peter was also shoved forward, shirtless and soaked just like the others. Cora made quick eye contact with him then walked into an empty room to change.

* * *

Everyone was reunited again but were under strict rules to go to the communal area of the prison. Prisoners were shouting in their direction as they walked and this made Cora put up her guard but Rocket, Groot and Peter were not startled by it. However, Cora relaxed ever so slightly when she realised it was all aimed at Gamora.

"Like I said, she's got a rep." Rocket explained. "Lots of these prisoners have lost their families to Ronan and his goons – she'll last a day tops."

"The guards will protect her, right?" Peter asked.

"They're here to stop us from getting out, they don't care what we do to each other inside."

"Whatever nightmares the future holds are dreams compared to what's behind me." Gamora said solemnly.

Cora frowned at her words then turned to see a large blue creature approach them.

"Guys, looks like we made a friend already." She joked.

"Check out the new meat. I'm gonna slather you all up in Gunavian jelly, and-"

Before the brutish creature could finish, Groot was immediately defensive and inserted branches into the creature's nostrils, lifting him in the air as he howled in pain. Rocket and Cora stepped forward confidently, making their presence known.

"Let's make something clear. This one here is our booty." Rocket stated in an intimidating fashion. "You wanna get to him, you go through us; or more accurately, we go through you."

Groot allowed the creature to drop to the ground and he began to walk away with Rocket and Cora in tow. Peter and Gamora went to their prison cells and more inmates began to hurl abuse at Gamora.

"This Ronan guy sounds like a bit of an arsehole." Cora thought aloud.

"Oh he's much more than an asshole – he puts sheer terror into every citizen in the galaxy. Don't mention him anymore in here unless you want to end up like Gamora – got it?"

"Okay." Cora fell silent then observed her arms that were stained slightly orange from the liquid she was covered in. "This is the closest to a tan I'm ever going to get to in my life." She added with an amused chuckle.

Groot opened his cell door and allowed Rocket and Cora to enter and make themselves comfortable. She sat in the corner and leaned against the wall and Groot sat opposite her, hunched due to being almost as tall as his own cell. Rocket stood in the middle of the cell with folded arms.

"Who is Gamora anyway? And how is she connected to… you know." Cora questioned.

"Don't pester me… Coralette." Rocket smirked.

"Oi, don't call me by that name."

"Or what?"

"Just don't use that name, Rocket – or should I call you Subject 89P13?" Cora shot back.

"If that name comes out of your mouth ever again I will claw your eyes out." Rocket hissed.

"Jesus Rocket. I'm sorry, just chill out a little. It looks as if we both have names we don't want to be known by."

"I am Groot."

Rocket's ears pricked up and he glared at Groot for a moment then heaved a sigh.

"I suppose you're right. I guess I'm…sorry…Cora." He mumbled, being reluctant to be sincere.

Cora nodded and stared out at prison, watching the different inmates pass by. The cell was silent until Rocket chose to pipe up.

"Gamora is a lady you do not want to be around. She's known for being the deadliest woman in the entire galaxy. She's the daughter of Thanos, another guy you don't want to be around." He paused and lowered his voice. "Ronan is working for Thanos so I hear, which I guess is what connects them."

"I can't believe I got punched by the deadliest woman in the galaxy and survived." Cora said whilst tenderly touching her cheek.

"She got you good." Rocket said, scrunching his nose at her bruise. "But you're lucky you can tell the tale."

"So, you've escaped 22 prisons?" Cora spoke with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah." Rocket replied, eyeing her curiously.

"Bet you can't escape this one under 24 hours." She challenged with a sly smile.

"Pfft, easy." Rocket chuckled.

"I am Groot."

"If you get us out of here by then – I'll get you a drink of your choice on me."

"Challenge accepted."

To seal the deal, Rocket stretched out his paw, which Cora shook eagerly, wanting to see what Rocket could conjure up for an escape plan.


	16. Making deals

The urge to sleep had spread across the Kyln. Everyone appeared to be inside their cells, preparing to go to bed or already resting. Cora, however, found herself unable to relax. The place was so unsettling to her and she felt she had to be constantly on her guard, since the guards could not be bothered to attend to their post.

Her eyes were sore, bringing away her attention from the bruising on her cheek momentarily. She knew she needed sleep, and she wanted sleep, but she would rather wake up in the morning and shutting her eyes could not guarantee that – she did not trust the prisoners. She sat slumped against the wall of her cell, listening to the atmosphere.

She picked up on faint, shuffling footsteps that grew louder towards her cell, along with hushes and murmurs. She straightened her posture and kept still, trying to listen carefully.

"Take her down to the showers. It'll be easier to clean up the blood."

Her heart began to speed up, and she shuffled back to the darkest area of the cell. A couple of inmates strode past her cell, dragging Gamora along with them. She exhaled and dropped her shoulders.

"Thank God." She muttered.

That was when she realised that she shouldn't have been so concerned about her welfare, but instead; Gamora's. Despite her giving her a nasty bruise on her cheek and cutting off her friend's wooden arms and throwing another to one side as if her were a piece of trash, Cora felt as if she had to intervene.

She slowly approached the door of her cell and peered out of it, seeing a shadowy figure stepping out of their cell nearby. Having memorised the whereabouts of people's cells, she deducted that it was Peter leaving his cell.

"You're awake too?"

"I got woken up by the goons that just passed us." Peter replied tiredly.

"I'm going to try stop them." Cora spoke as she turned her head towards the direction they headed.

"That sounds like a bad idea, but I'm in." Peter agreed.

"Quill?" Rocket's voice called out groggily.

Cora quickly slipped behind the corner the inmates turned and began to make her way to the showers in the stealthiest manner she could manage. Peter groaned at Cora's impulsive reaction and went after her.

"Where are you going?" Rocket called out again, beginning to get himself on his feet.

Cora had found the gang of inmates and noticed they had cornered Gamora against the wall of a shower. She knelt down beside the door to the shower room and peered round to witness the situation. She watched as the prisoners gave her threats until a hand placed itself on her shoulder, making her jolt.

"Quill, Jesus, you scared me!" She hissed.

"Why'd you run off back there?" He asked, standing up straight again to watch the inmates with Gamora.

She opened her mouth to answer but a voice stopped her from speaking.

"Cora, what did I tell ya?" Rocket scolded in a low tone.

"You have your answer." Cora shrugged.

"This don't look like staying out of trouble." He said as he stood next to her.

"Oh yeah, and bounty hunting isn't staying out of trouble." Peter said sarcastically.

"As in this kinda trouble; picking fights with prisoners. She has more to learn." Rocket explained to Peter.

"That, or you're just not a good teacher." Cora replied jokily, earning a glare from Rocket.

Peter hushed them and they all continued to look at what was being played out in front of them.

"Consider this a death sentence for your crimes against the galaxy!" One of them growled at Gamora, taking out a knife.

"You dare!?" A strong looking figure with red markings on his grey skin stepped out and approached the prisoners. "You know who I am, yes?"

"You're Drax The Destroyer." The prisoner stammered.

"And you know why they call me this?"

"You slayed dozens of Ronan's minions."

"Ronan murdered my wife, Ovette, and my daughter, Camaria. He slaughtered them where they stood and he laughed!" Drax said through gritted teeth. "Her life is not yours to take. He killed my family so I shall kill one of his in return."

"Of course, Drax – here." The prisoner said shakily as he handed his weapon over to him.

To their surprise, Gamora lashed out and armed herself with the other prisoners' knives and pointed them at the prisoner that tried to kill her initially, as well as Drax.

"I'm no family to Ronan or Thanos. I'm your only hope in stopping him."

Gamora had dropped her knives at this point, proving to be a grave mistake, giving Drax the opportunity to grab her by the throat.

"Your words mean nothing to me!"

"Hey! Hey! Hey!" Peter intervened, with Cora in tow.

"Oh crap…" Rocket sighed.

"You know, if killing Ronan is your sole purpose I don't think this is the best way to go about it." Peter warned.

"Are you not the man this wench attempted to kill?" Drax pressed.

"Well, she's hardly the first woman to try and do that." He smirked, causing Cora to roll her eyes at him. "Look, this was from a smoking-hot Rajak girl that stabbed me with a fork." He added as he revealed a scar on his side, then pointed to one nearby his throat. "A Kree girl tried to rip out my throat-"

Drax glared at him whilst Cora stood next to Peter, zoned out from his explanation then snapped out of her trance when she realised Peter was staring at her.

"You don't care." He stated.

"Look, do you guys even realise that she betrayed this Ronan person?" Cora pointed out as Drax and the prisoners eyed her with unamused expressions.

"He's going to come back for her, and when he does, that's when you…" Peter explained then drew his finger across his own throat to symbolise the cutting of Ronan's throat.

"Why would I put my finger on his throat?" Drax asked with a frown.

"It's a symbol – for you slicing his throat."

"I would not slice his throat, I would cut his head clean off."

"It's a general expression for you killing somebody." Peter then turned to the prisoner and Cora, repeating the symbol. "You've heard of this, right? You know what that is."

Cora and the prisoners nodded as Drax looked at them menacingly, causing the prisoners to suddenly shake their head.

"What I was saying is, you want to keep her alive. Don't do his work for him." Peter urged.

Drax gave Gamora a fierce look as she struggled for air and eventually decided to let her go. Cora felt her chest deflate and become less tense and watched Drax walk away with the prisoner's knife, insisting that he keep it.

"Wow, you actually handled the situation well." Cora said in surprise.

"You learn over time to defuse heated situations." Peter said with a smile.

"Through defending yourself against women you two-time?" Cora spoke with folded arms.

Peter gave her a look and Rocket approached them now that the danger was no longer present.

"You're lucky none of those knives were pointing at you, girlie." Rocket tutted.

"Yeah yeah." Cora waved her hand, not wanting to hear a lecture.

"Why did you stop him?" Gamora asked, the room becoming silent.

"Listen, I could care less whether you live or die." Peter said as he began to walk away, the others following him.

"Then why stop the big guy?"

"Because you know where to sell my orb."

"How are we going to sell it when we and it are still here?"

"Oh, easy." Cora said with a smirk. "Rocket and I have a bet going on – he has to get us out of here under 24 hours."

"He's claimed to have escaped 22 prisons." Peter backed up.

"Oh, we're getting out." The furry creature spoke determinedly to Cora's direction. "Then we're heading straight to Yondu to retrieve your bounty." He added stopping by his cell.

"How much is your buyer willing to pay for my orb?" Peter quizzed Gamora.

She went quiet for a moment and analysed everyone around her before speaking in a hushed tone.

"Four billion units."

Rocket gasped. "What?!"

"Jesus Christ!" Cora spoke in awe.

"Holy shit!"

"That orb is my opportunity to get away from Thanos and Ronan. Free us and I'll lead you to the buyer and split the profit between us."

"I am Groot."

The raccoon shook his head and turned to Groot's cell.

"Asleep for the danger, awake for the money, as per frickin' usual."

"I could use the money to reopen the shop." Cora spoke thoughtfully.

"Why, after all we did for you?" Rocket shot back with a frown.

"I said could, meaning that the shop had its day. I do kind of miss it, but… it was just a thought." She spoke solemnly.

"What did you sell?" Peter questioned.

"Terran junk." Rocket replied quickly with a cheeky grin.

"That's why you went out of business." He chuckled.

"It got burned down by this arsehole." She spat.

"That's one powerful asshole." Peter spoke snickering, Rocket began to laugh along with him as Gamora watched the pair with a scowl on her face.

"Wow, very mature." She retorted in an unimpressed manner. "The point is, I don't want to reopen the shop anyway. It will just give me bad memories."

Rocket looked at Cora with a solemn expression that quickly faded when she turned to look at him. Peter looked at her with intrigue until Gamora caught their attention.

"Enough of this talk – will you take this offer?"

"Yeah, I'm in." Peter piped up.

"Hell yeah." The raccoon agreed.

"Count me in." Cora nodded.

"I am Groot."

"Then it is settled. I will meet you all in the morning."

With that, Gamora strode away with her head held high back to her cell as the other stared, captivated by her dangerous aura. Peter awkwardly cleared his throat and bid Rocket, Cora and Groot good night.

"Get some shut eye this time, Cora." Rocket commanded then entered his cell.

She nodded at his words and walked back into her own cell, only to walk straight back out to Groot's cell and saw him hunched inside, being too tall for it.

"Groot, will you let me stay with you?" She asked quietly.

"I am Groot." He replied opening the door for her.

"Thanks – I don't want Rocket to think I'm scared but…"

"I am Groot."

Cora sighed and laid on her side on the floor.

"If he asks, tell him it's because you were scared, alright?"


	17. Prison Breakout Part I

_**Hi guys,**_

 ** _I'm so sorry for the long delay in posting this chapter, I've had an extremely difficult time recently due to a personal situation that occurred and is still on going so I've been really down lately but I have time to post this chapter now and I promise I will upload regularly again. I hope you all understand and nevertheless, I hope you enjoy the chapter! Let me know what you think!_**

 ** _\- esgaroths_**

* * *

"Wake up!"

Rocket was shaking Cora with all his strength but she would not respond. Groot stood above them and watched blankly with a small smile on his face.

"What is she doing in your cell anyway?" He asked his tall, tree-like friend.

"I am Groot."

"C'mon Groot, just because this is the Kyln it don't mean it's different from any other prison. Toughen up." Rocket shot back.

He turned back to Cora and stood on her back, bringing out an annoyed grumble from her.

"Get up, you big baby." He taunted.

She grumbled once again and turned on her side so Rocket fell. The animal growled and recovered swiftly on his feet and began shouting in her ear.

"Quit messing, girlie! Get up – you have some explaining to do."

Cora instantly shot up and sat in an upright position, giving the pair an unimpressed look.

"Why are you being a pain in the ass?"

"Couldn't sleep." She mumbled.

"And what the hell are you doing in Groot's cell?

"What the hell are you doing in Groot's cell?"

"Don't repeat back what I just said to ya."

"Don't repeat back what I just said to ya." Cora mimicked.

Rocket growled and folded his arms as she smirked at him. He tapped his foot on the floor impatiently.

"It's grub time; we're gonna meet up with Quill and Gamora and discuss our plan."

"Our plan?"

"You need to stop this repetition thing – it doesn't suit you like it suits Groot."

"I am Groot."

"It wasn't intentional that time – what's this plan you're talking about?" Cora spoke with furrowed eyebrows.

"Remember our bet?" Rocket asked with a confident smile.

"Oh yeah." She said with a firm nod. "This is going to be interesting."

"Wait 'till ya hear about it – my plan is full-proof." The raccoon boasted.

Cora shook her head at him with a smirk on her face. Her and Groot followed Rocket out of the cell to a communal area for inmates to dine. She felt her stomach rumble and she clutched her tummy consciously.

"Looks like I could do with some breakfast."

"More like lunch." Rocket chided.

"It's lunch time already?!"

"Of course, it is! We had to get your ass up sooner or later."

"In that case, I could do with some brunch." Cora smiled.

"What the hell is 'brunch'?" He asked with a frown.

"Hey guys – over here!" Peter called out, seated at a table nearby with Gamora.

The trio made note of where they were sat before collecting their tray of food. Cora studied it dubiously, as she followed Rocket and Groot to sit at the table with Peter and Gamora. They took their seats and Cora noticed that Peter had eaten some of his food, meaning that it must have been edible for Terran's too. Tentatively, she began to nibble at it, concluding that it wasn't the best of food but it had to do.

"So now we're all here, would you like to explain this plan of yours?" Peter addressed Rocket.

"If we're gonna get out of here, we're gonna need to get into that watchtower." He began as Cora turned her head to the tower whilst chewing her mouthful. "To do that, I'm gonna need a few things. The guards wear security bands to control their ins and outs and I need one of them."

"Leave it to me." Gamora piped in as a man with a prosthetic leg passed the table.

"That dude over there." Rocket pointed to him. "I'm gonna need his prosthetic leg."

This earned him a puzzled look from the group. Cora shook his head at him and continued to load a small amount of food onto her fork.

"His leg?" Peter asked in disbelief.

"Yeah, I don't need the rest of him – he's useless."

"Alright then."

"Finally, on the wall back there is a black panel. Blinky yellow light – do you see it?"

Everyone turned to the wall and analysed it. Cora made sure to make a mental note as Gamora turned back to the group on her seat and Peter nodded. Groot, on the other hand, slowly rose from his seat without the others realising.

"There's a quarnyx battery there in a purplish box, green wires. To get in the watchtower I definitely need it." Rocket continued.

"How are we supposed to do that?" Gamora pressed.

"Well, supposedly, these bald-bodies find you attractive." The raccoon spoke thoughtfully. "So, maybe you can work out some sort of trade."

"You must be joking." She scoffed.

"No really, I heard they find you attractive Look, if you won't do it Cora will."

"I am not doing that." Cora spoke flatly with her mouth full.

"You're right that's a terrible idea. You're gonna stay with me so you don't screw up."

"What makes you think I'm going to screw up?" She retorted.

"It's your first prison break-out, newbie."

"Look." Peter interrupted as Groot proceeded towards the panel on the wall undetected. "It's twenty feet high and it's in the middle of the most heavily-guarded part of this prison – it'll be impossible to get up there without being seen."

"I've got one plan and that plan requires a frickin' quarnyx battery, so figure it out!" Rocket demanded as Groot began to reach for the panel. "Can I get back to it? Thanks. Now, this is the important part; once the battery is removed, everything is gonna slam into emergency mode so once we have it we gotta move quickly so you definitely need to get that last."

An alarm suddenly blared across the prison, everyone turned their attention to the source to find Groot had ripped the wire from the black panel. Panic was evident on all their faces as Rocket addressed everyone once more.

"Or we could just get it first and improvise."

"I'll get the band." Gamora spoke.

"Leg." Peter mumbled as they both split up to do their self-assigned jobs.

Rocket paced around in a frustrated manner. Cora stood from her seat and folded her arms.

"I wasn't the one that screwed up this time."

"Shut up, Cora." He growled.

"Looks like your free drink is going down the drain." She taunted.

Security droids began to surround Groot and commanded him to drop the wires and go back to his cell or they would attack. Groot simply bellowed his usual three words at them causing them to fire at him as he retaliated. Rocket groaned and crawled onto Groot's shoulder. Cora was left confused as to what to do in this state of madness that was playing out before her. At first, she sat down hopelessly at the table and began eating the rest of her food with her chin resting on her hand. As she ate, she noticed her knife left untouched, swallowing her bite; she took it and the other knives left by the group.

Unknown to them, Drax was watching the entire situation from afar. When he noticed the guards about to shoot at Groot, he intervened and took one of their weapons.

"Creepy little beast!" He called out to Rocket and tossed him the gun he took from the guards.

Rocket accepted it and began to fire at the guards, enjoying himself.

Cora stood from the table and decided to climb it to get a better perspective of the situation. A prison guard pulled her from her concentration by ordering her off the table.

"Prisoner, get off the table, drop the cutlery and retreat to your cell."

She simply stared down at the guard and remained frozen on top of the table. The guard pulled out a gun and aimed it at her.

"I won't ask you again."

She tightened her grip on her bundled knives in her hands and looked down at them, an idea clicking into place.

"I'll swap you." She said playfully and threw a knife at the guard's hand, causing him to yelp in pain and drop the gun. She knelt down and leaned off the side of the table to swipe the gun before the guard to rearm himself. She threw the rest of her knives at him that bounced off him but sent him crouched on the floor to shield himself.

"Move to the watchtower!" Rocket instructed.

Cora began to leap across the tables, firing at the guards that tried to cross her path. The others obeyed and began to gather at the watchtower. The watchtower guard was sat inside, commanding for back up to arrive. The group abruptly opened the door and Groot pushed him out of the watchtower to claim it theirs.

"Why is this one here?" Gamora scowled at Drax.

"Spare me your foul gaze, woman."

"We promised he could stay by your side until he kills your boss. I always keep my promises, when they're to muscle-bound whack-jobs who will kill me if I don't" Peter explained. "Here." He added, tossing the prosthetic leg to Rocket.

"Oh that, I was just kidding about the leg. I just need these two things." Rocket snickered.

"What?!"

"Rocket!" Cora scolded.

"I thought it'd be funny, was it funny?" Rocket laughed.

"What the hell, Rocket?!"

"I had to transfer him thirty thousand units!" Peter said angrily.

"How are we going to leave?"

"He's got a plan, right?" Or is that another thing you made up?" Peter spat.

"I have a plan! I have a plan!" Rocket yelled.

"Time's ticking, pal." Cora warned.

"Cease your yammering and relieve us from this irksome confinement." Drax shouted.

"Yeah, I agree with the walking thesaurus on that one." Peter chimed in.

"Don't ever call me a thesaurus." Drax warned with a stern look.

"It's metaphor dude."

"His people are completely literal." Rocket explained as he pushed on many buttons. "Metaphors are gonna go over his head."

"Nothing goes over my head; my reflexes are too fast I would catch it." Drax insisted.

"Shame can't be said for your intelligence reflexes." Cora grinned.

Gamora sighed to herself and rolled her eyes in the middle of the conversation.

"I'm going to die surrounded by the biggest idiots in the galaxy."

Cora was about to defend herself when the backup that was called arrived in front of them. A large amount of prisons guards were positioned to fight. Everyone in the watchtower froze and stared out at the guards. Peter broke the silence with a weak, light-hearted comment.

"Those are some big guns."


	18. Prison Breakout Part II

**_Hello everyone!_**

 ** _Happy Easter - I am so so so so sorry that I disappeared again. Just when I thought everything slowed down, I got promoted at my job so I became quite busy but everything is getting steady now so I've finally been able to post this. I hope you guys like it and as a treat and apology I'll post another chapter shortly after I do my chores. Let me know what you guys think!_**

 ** _-esgaroths_**

* * *

The leader of the guards began roaring commands at his comrades, their large guns firing a shattering shot at the watchtower's windows. The group steadied themselves at the impact and Cora grimaced at the sight, then Gamora instructed Rocket in an aggressive manner to conduct his plan. He began rapidly pulling wires and pushing buttons on the control panel as another shot was fired at them, the glass cracking and the tower wobbling once again. Everyone looked on edge as they watched Rocket's every move and every button he pressed, with a frown of concentration plastered on his face. The guards then announced an upcoming third shot.

"Right Rocket, get a frickin' move on!" Cora yelled, beginning to feel frantic.

"Relax!" He shot back as the guards began to count down and grabbing two wires to fuse them together.

Before the shot was fired the guards and objects outside the watchtower began to gently levitate from the ground and rise. Everyone was confused momentarily, until Gamora worked it out.

"He turned off the artificial gravity… everywhere but in here." She said in disbelief.

"Told ya I had a plan." He spoke proudly as he punched in more buttons, causing the watchtower to detatch itself from its base.

The group tried to regain their balance and hold on tightly as Rocket manoeuvred it in such a way to use the security droids to fly it out of the prison. The movement caused everyone to wobble in order to keep their balance and cling onto an object. Once they escaped out of the communal area for the inmates, Rocket put the watchtower to a sudden halt.

"That was a good plan." Peter nodded in acknowledgement and sped outside of the tower. "There's my ship; the Milano – the orange and blue one."

Cora got onto her feet, realising the gun she acquired from the gun had disappeared, meaning it must have slipped out of the watchtower. She walked carefully out the watchtower, still feeling unsettled by the flight and followed Rocket and the others to retrieve their belongings. She found her purple, spiky bag intact, rummaging through it: her food, drink, blasters, water guns, plasma sphere, make-up, her Nintendo and its charger, and her small iPod and earphones along with its charging docking station. Everything was accounted for.

"They crumpled my pants into a ball – that's rude!" Rocket noted.

She looked up and found her body suit and her metallic silver boots. Peter frowned as he examined the state of his belongings, completely putting aside the fact the silver orb was present, clearly pressed onto something else.

"Come on, the orb's there – we need to go!" Gamora urged him.

"Wait, wait, wait – that bastard didn't put it back!" He cursed.

"Put what back?"

Peter shoved the bag to Gamora and began to rush ahead.

"Get to the ship – I'll be right back!"

"How are you going to- "

"Just keep the Milano close by – go!"

Gamora sighed as she watched him sprint back toward the heart of the prison. Rocket shrugged and began heading to Peter's ship eagerly. Groot and Cora followed in tow and eventually, Gamora and Drax gave in and followed Peter's orders. Rocket rubbed his paws with delight as he stepped inside the ship.

"This is one sweet ride." He smirked.

"Keep in mind it's not yours so look after it." Cora chided.

"Who shall pilot the ship?" Drax questioned as he joined the group with Gamora following behind.

"Is that even a question?" Rocket shot back.

"You mean to say that you will take control of this ship, rodent?"

"If he was able to steer an idle watchtower out of a prison I think he's capable of piloting a ship." Gamora piped up.

Rocket gave a hum of approval and proceeded to stand on the pilot chair and analyse the control panel. Cora and Groot sat in the chairs either side of him and did the same. It wasn't a panel that she was familiar with, but she could figure out the basic controls on it. The animal rubbed his hands together with delight.

"I am Groot?"

"Yeah, that's a point; where is Quill?" Cora asked, turning on the chair to face everyone.

"He sped off back to the prison." Gamora grumbled.

"What?!" Rocket yelled.

"He just said he would meet us back here and to stay with the ship."

"Screw this, we're going." He then began to flip switches that breathed life into the ship.

"Rocket, no!" Cora warned.

"You should take guidance from your Terran owner." Drax added.

"She doesn't own me!" He chuckled. "No one owns me – I play by my own rules."

"We have a shit ton of units at stake here."

"Well once we're outta here we can grab him again and get our units."

"That's not what I meant." She groaned.

It was too late, Rocket was adamant to make a run for it, he fired up the ship and piloted out of the prison's bay. Cora wanted to do something – she didn't want to leave Quill behind and stab him in the back. She folded her arms and looked down at the control panel, watching as some of the buttons flickered, amongst those was the emergency button that would put the ship to a halt and shut it down.

Angrily, she slammed her palm of her hand down on it and the Milano whirred slowly as its system switched itself off.

"Cora, what the hell are you playin' at girlie?!" Rocket argued.

"You need to get your head out of your arse."

"No I don't!"

"4 billion units, Rocket!"

Everyone present fell quiet and watched the two stare at each other with narrowed eyes. The silence of the galaxy that engulfed them filled the air at that moment.

"We can get it without him." The raccoon shrugged.

"I am Groot."

"So, we made a deal with the lady assassin, deals can be broken."

"I said I would share the profits with you all if you helped us escape and it wouldn't be all of us without him. No Quill, no units." Gamora spoke.

Rocket sighed and grabbed on the fur on top of his head in frustration.

"Why do we suddenly care about morals? Well, how's he gonna get to us?"

"He declined to share that information." Gamora said slowly.

"You made me stop for this?" Rocket addressed Cora with folded arms.

She simply folded her arms and looked away, staring out the window.

"Are we really going to wait around for some humie with a death wish? You have the orb right?"

Gamora fumbled through Peter's bag and realised that it was no longer there. Her eyebrows furrowed in realisation and she let out a growl.

"He took it?" Drax asked.

"He's clever." Cora smiled.

"If we don't leave now, we'll be blown to bits." Rocket urged.

"No – we are not leaving without that orb!" Gamora spoke through gritted teeth.

"Behold."

Drax's outburst drew everyone's attention to the window of the ship. A small dot could be seen flying towards them. As it neared and grew in size, it became clear that it was Peter flying towards them.

"Open the doors." Cora muttered as she stood from her seat and walked to the ship's entrance. Drax followed her and opened the door as she took one of Peter's arms and hoisted him up.

"Cool mask." She said watching Peter press a button as the mask with glowing eyes on his face folded away into nothing.

"This one shows spirit!" Drax spoke. "He will make a fine ally in the battle against Ronan. Companion, what were you retrieving?"

Peter then flashed him his Walkman which earned him a puzzled look from Drax. Cora raised her eyebrow at him whilst the others sent him glares from across the room. Drax was the only person to say what was on everyone's minds at the moment:

"You're an imbecile."


	19. Lessons about Terra

_**Hi everyone,**_

 ** _I'm here with another chapter - I have finished uni now for the year so I have lots of time to give you guys more chapters. I really hope you like this chapter - I enjoyed writing it! I have a lot of inspiration now since Infinity War is getting me scared and a little excited and I'm seeing it tomorrow so I'm going to have a lot of tears - anyways enjoy and I can't wait to post the future chapters :)_**

 ** _\- esgaroths_**

* * *

After Peter's return, he began conversing with Gamora about where he should navigate the Milano. Cora decided she had enough of the dreary, yellow prison uniform she sported and found an empty room in the ship to change into her regular attire. This made her a lot calmer and she tossed the prison clothes across the room as if to say good riddance. She unpacked her bag and pulled out her iPod and tested to see if it had any battery by pressing the play button, a segment of "Lay All Your Love On Me" by ABBA played out faintly from the headphones and she paused it before stuffing it in her pocket.

She fumbled through more of her bag and saw her Nintendo, remembering that it needed to charge, she grabbed the tangled charger and connected it to a power bank Rocket had made specifically for it to charge. She stood up from the ground and looked at her reflection in the metal walls to check the state of her makeup. When she was happy she left the room, and climbed up the ladder to the main deck of the Milano.

"Woah woah woah! Yo, Ranger Rick; what are you doing?" She heard Peter exclaim as she ascended. "You can't take apart my ship without asking me! What is this?"

"Don't touch that, it's a bomb." Rocket's voice replied back in a casual tone.

"And you left it lying around?"

"I was gonna put it in a box."

Cora peered from the top of the ladder and observed. Rocket was surrounded by lots of metal material and wires and Peter was towering above him, clearly unamused by Rocket's DIY session.

"What's a box going to do?"

"What about this one?" Rocket asked, pulling out a box wrapped in gift wrapping.

"No! Hey, hey! Leave it alone!" He shot back, prying it from his hands.

"Why what is it?"

"Shut up." He spoke defensively.

Cora frowned at the slight vulnerability that he had displayed. That box must have been of incredible value for him to have dropped his tough and suave persona. Rocket continued tinkering with the parts he had collected and Peter changed the subject.

"What is that?"

"That's for if things get really hardcore. Or if you wanna blow up moons."

"What's with you and blowing up moons?" Cora chimed in as everyone turned to face her.

"No one's blowing up moons." Gamora shot back.

Rocket sighed and carried on playing with the materials around him.

"You just want to suck the joy out of everything."

"We'll schedule it in another time." Cora said as she stood on the ladder and leant on the floor of the deck with her arms folded on it.

"You have a new skin on your face." Drax said, pointing at her.

"A new skin?" She repeated, putting a hand on her face. "You mean my makeup?"

"Makeup?" Gamora and Drax spoke with a frown.

"It's weird stuff that she smears on her face to make herself look different than she actually looks." Rocket explained.

"Come on up, Cora." Peter gestured as she climbed up and stood on her feet. "How did you get makeup here?"

"Stock trips." She replied.

"So, you made regular trips back to Earth?" Peter asked in a shocked tone.

"Yeah, how else was I meant to restock?"

"Also, why do you and Peter Quill sound different when you are both from Terra?" Drax asked curiously.

"Oh yeah…" Rocket spoke in realisation. "Now that you mention it."

"Cora's from a different land from mine." Peter explained. "The earth is split into many countries. I'm from a country called America and Cora is from a country called England." Peter then smirked as he changed his thick American accent to an exaggerated posh British accent to mock hers. "The land of tea and the Queen and the corgis."

"What was that?" She laughed.

"Terra has a Queen?" Drax continued.

"Yeah, many Kings and Queens." Cora nodded.

"And what are these Corgis?"

"They give the Queen some company."

"So, the Queen of Terra is protected by her fierce army of corgis?"

"Um no, not quite-"

"I would love to meet this mighty Queen." Drax said in awe.

Cora pursed her lips together to hide a smile. Everyone else turned to Peter when he asked her another question:

"Is it hard leaving your family to come back here?"

Rocket froze at the question for a moment then turned to his Terran friend to see her reaction. Cora's face remained neutral and drew in a breath.

"I don't remember my family."

"What do you mean?" Gamora asked with a frown.

"I know nothing of the previous life I had on Earth. I don't know who my family are, my friends – I just know my name, that I was born and raised in London, I might be 19 years old last time I checked."

Everyone in the room fell silent, unsure of what to say or how to treat her. Peter looked at her apologetically, almost as if he was sorry for bringing it up.

"It's not really a sad thing for me. I always say, I can't miss what I didn't know I had so it's not difficult for me to visit London. I do have to be a little careful being a missing person, I may not know who exactly is looking for me but there will be people out there who want me back. Whenever I visit, it's not for long, I would just go through junkyards looking for unwanted items to sell for the shop and take stock from other places."

"How did you go unnoticed?" Peter folded his arms.

"I just have a knack for it." She shrugged. "What about your family then?"

Peter winced and turned slightly away. Every one stared at him and felt a sad essence in the air.

"I get it, sorry I shouldn't have asked."

"No, you had every right to ask since you were so open about yours." Peter spoke solemnly.

"Boo hoo, I'm bored let's change the topic of discussion." Rocket grumbled, continuing to tinker.

"You always have a way with words, Rocket." Cora turned to him.

"Huh?"

"It was sarcasm."

"Screw you, Cora."

"I am Groot."

"I ain't arguing!" Rocket whined.

"What is in your pocket?" Drax gestured to her white earphones dangling beside Cora's leg.

"Let me guess, is it Cora's weird game box?" Rocked chimed in.

"No actually."

"Oh, it's the eye-pod piece of junk that looks nothing like an eye or a pod." He deduced.

"Let's see it." Peter requested enthusiastically.

Cora took her pink iPod shuffle out of her pocket and Peter stepped towards her to have a look.

"Is it some sort of music player?"

"Yeah, it's what everyone uses nowadays."

"No Walkmans?"

"Walkmans? Now that's something I haven't heard about in a while. I see a lot of them in junkyards."

"What?!" Peter exclaimed, almost wounded.

"I don't understand anything about this conversation." Drax mumbled.

"I am Groot."

"Technology – it's developing. People listen to iPods now." Cora continued.

"So that's what it's called. Can I look at it?"

"Sure." She offered it to Peter and he took it carefully, furrowing his eyebrows as he studied it.

"Even the headphones are different.. how do you get it to play?"

"You just press the play button. It's the shuffle model so you can't see the name of the song or artist you just skip and it will give you a song." Cora explained.

"Did you put the songs on it yourself?"

"Yeah… I had a friend that helped me out." She spoke quietly.

Peter pressed the button and gave her a confused look, only hearing the faint tune of the song.

"Unplug the earphones and it will play out loud. It's not great on its own but I have the docking station."

He then unplugged the earphones carefully and pressed play again and the chorus of 'Groove is in the Heart' by Deee-Lite quietly played and everyone became silent to listen to it.

"Who's this?" He asked curiously.

"Groove is in the Heart? You know, by Deee-Lite?"

"Nope." Peter shook his head. "Don't know 'em."

Cora gasped, her mouth wide open.

"How can you not know this song? When did you leave Earth?"

"In the 70s."

"That makes sense."

"Maybe you can save the Terran bonding for later." Gamora spoke, growing bored of the conversation. "And turn that annoying thing off."

Peter gave her a look then pressed pause, placing the iPod and the headphones in Cora's hand, giving her a nod in thanks. She flashed him a quick smile, plugging the headphones back in and sitting herself next to Rocket, leaving him to experiment with the metal parts he had acquired as she put the earphones in her ears and pressed play.


	20. Drifting from the truth again

_**Hi guys,**_

 ** _I'm back with another chapter for you - sorry for the wait I suck at updating I know but I really hope this was worth the wait. I can't wait to post the rest of the story because there's so much in store for you all and I'm so proud of it. Thank you for over 5000 reads that truly amazing I wish I could hug you all - I'm sending much love. Let me know what you guys think!_**

 ** _\- esgaroths_**

* * *

Cora frowned as she could hear Peter and Gamora quarrelling over the music through her headphones. She tutted to herself and silenced the music, keeping her headphones in to make it look as if she wasn't listening in to the conversation.

"If we're going to work together, you're going to have to start trusting me a little bit." Peter retorted.

"And how much do you trust me?" Gamora spoke with the orb in her grasp.

"I would trust you more if you told me what this is." He added, swiping the orb from her hand which seemed to heighten her annoyance to him.

Cora eyed the orb as it shone under the lights of the Milano. She suddenly had a thought as her eyes had widened subtly and her mouth parted open ever so slightly. The past events at Yondu's ship flashed into her mind – she realised Yondu had mentioned the orb, but what unsettled her the most was that she also remembered Jasper speaking of it. He had told her it was once a mission of his to get the orb for Yondu. Although she knew it was less likely to be a priority for him; whatever he decided to do at this moment in time, his association with it was enough to be bad news.

"I don't know what it is." Gamora stated as Peter placed it on a nearby table, giving Drax the opportunity to take it into his possession.

"If it is a weapon, we should use it against Ronan."

"Put it down you fool!" Gamora threatened. "You'll destroy us all!"

"Or just you, murderess!" Drax bellowed.

"I let you live once, princess!"

"I am not a princess!"

"Hey! Nobody is killing anybody on my ship!" Peter interjected.

"You said you didn't know what is was, yet you said just now that it can 'destroy us all.'" Cora spoke, making the room fall silent as heads swiftly turned towards her.

"T-That's why we need to give it to my client." Gamora replied defensively.

"Which you won't tell us about either." Peter folded his arms.

"This thing sounds like bad news to me. I don't like it." Cora continued in a low voice.

"So, what if it's bad news? The units its up for – we wouldn't have to work a day for the rest of our lives!" Rocket chimed.

"If no one knows of the possible dangers it has then it's no biggie." Peter pointed out.

"I am Groot."

"Groot did you not hear a word of what space boy just said? It won't hurt anyone if no one knows how it can hurt them" Rocket grumbled.

"It's Star-Lord."

"It's bad news for another reason." Cora mumbled quietly.

"Huh?" Peter turned to Cora.

"Nothing – I guess you do have a point." She shot back with a tight smile.

She watched as the others conversed with one another as the uneasiness inside her made her feel queasy. She didn't want to be part of this – she couldn't face Jasper and see what he had become. She rose from her feet and approached the ladder, descending down from the deck undetected. She walked back to the room she had temporarily claimed and picked up her items that were sprawled across the floor and hastily stashed them into her backpack. She took out her space suit then hoisted it on her back, not minding how heavy it was.

She proceeded to walk around, examining anything she could use to secure a smooth, quiet exit. She knew opening the main doors would give her away instantly. Her eyebrows were furrowed as she walked around in circles. She sighed, gathering that the only option was indeed to go through the door; she couldn't fit through the windows or the ventilation. The Milano didn't appear to have any emergency pods either. If she made it quick, then maybe there was a chance she could get away.

She clasped the space suit in her hand and stuck it onto herself – feeling it wrap around her body shape. She took a breath then marched to the door, pressing the button to open it and watched the door part open, squeezing through them when the gap was big enough. She used her arms to propel herself forward, it was a weird sensation to her – like she was swimming in air. The force and the feeling was the same but without the water, she thought.

Cora had no idea where she wanted to go, she hoped that she would come across a cargo ship of some sort and hitch-hike on it. For now, she was satisfied with drifting in the unknown, as long as she was away from that orb.

Something had tugged on her leg which made her jump. She turned to see the glowing eyes of Peter's mask looking back at her. She grunted in frustration and attempted to wriggle out of his grip. He remained persistent and kept his hold on her leg and activated a mechanism unknown to Cora in his boots that propelled them both forward back to the ship. Once they were back inside, they were greeted by Gamora, Drax, Rocket and Groot waiting for them. With the return of gravity, Cora fell on her front to the ground rolling on her back and groaned in pain as Peter pressed a button to put away his mask then pressed her space suit so it deactivated.

"What the hell was that?!" Peter scolded.

Cora pressed her lips together and said nothing.

"Why were you trying to get away?" Gamora snarled.

Silence.

"Are you working for Ronan? Were you trying to tell him that we have the orb?" Drax accused as he picked her up by her arms.

"Don't be fucking ridiculous!" She spat and kicked him in his stomach to knock the breath out of him, causing him to drop her as she fell to her knees.

"And you thought I wasn't the one to trust." Gamora argued.

"Tell us Cora – why were you trying to escape?" Peter said, using a harsher tone.

"That thing is dangerous – I'd rather stay alive."

"I am Groot."

Everyone then turned to Rocket, their eyes silently asking him for a translation. The raccoon was silent for a moment and scratched the back of his head.

"I agree, that is a lie." He said solemnly.

"So wait, that's not the reason why she tried to leave?" Gamora frowned.

"Then what is it? Speak woman!" Drax demanded.

"I am not going to talk!" Cora shouted. "Especially not to you!"

Drax growled and hover his hand over his knife handles that rested under his belt. The tension was rising at an alarming rate until Rocket piped up.

"I think I know what this is about." He said thoughtfully. "Let me talk to her alone."

"What?"

"I know what I'm doing Quill, I got this." Rocket insisted. "You guys go back to the deck – Groot make sure they don't blow each other's heads off will ya? Or do, that might be fun."

"I am Groot."

"I hope you know what you're doing, rodent." Gamora spoke before storming off to climb the ladder to the deck.

Shortly after this, Peter sighed and softened his gaze at Cora before following the assassin with Drax and Groot in tow. Rocket folded his arms as Cora sat in front of him with her head turned away.

"How many more times are you going to fling yourself out of different ships for you to realise that you can't run from your problems?" Rocket questioned, tapping his foot on the metallic floor, only getting a shrug as a response. "It's dumb, Cora. Not to mention, it's getting predictable and old."

Cora once again shrugged and heaved another sigh.

"I didn't train you as a bounty hunter to have you turn into a gigantic baby with mood swings."

"You mean a teenager, right?" She grumbled still not looking at him.

"Yeah that, whatever." Rocket waved his hand dismissively.

He fell silent, waiting for her to speak – hoping she would eventually speak what was on her mind. The silence made him feel uncomfortable and he ran his claws through the top of his head warily.

"Look, you know I ain't good at this pep talk stuff so can you just make it easy for me and tell me what's wrong with ya?"

"I wasn't leaving to work against you – I was leaving to help you." She stated.

"How would you leaving help us in any way at all?"

"Rocket, I only realised something a moment ago."

"Go on."

"I never told you this because it wasn't relevant until now."

"And what's that?"

Cora paused and lowered her eyes to the ground.

"Come on girlie, we ain't got forever."

"Back when um, you and Groot were trying to blast me to smithereens; Jasper told me something."

"What did he tell ya?"

She made eye contact with Rocket with a grave expression on her face, unsettling Rocket more.

"He was looking for an orb."


	21. Going nowhere

Rocket burst into laughter, causing Cora to frown at him as she was confused by his behaviour.

"Oi, keep it down will you?!" She hissed. "What's so funny?"

"Starling's really gonna go for the orb? After what the green assassin lady told us? Man, he really is a nut job going after something associated with Ronan." He spoke in disbelief.

"He really is going to try it – plus it's not the only thing he's going after."

"Jeez what else? The boy's ambitious."

"I think he's going to go after Yondu and the Ravagers."

"Stupid, but makes sense." Rocket nodded.

Cora nodded back in agreement.

"Why are you worrying then? Sure he's after the orb but-"

"You're forgetting that he destroyed my shop." She retorted.

"Yeah that was a while ago – I'm sure he ain't gonna try anything else."

"That's the thing, Rocket – he would."

"Why would he waste his time on you?"

"You're forgetting why he did it – which is also the reason why he's 'wasting his time on me.'"

Rocket scrunched his nose and folded his arms deep in thought.

"Why did he do it?"

Cora groaned and threw her arms out in exasperation.

"Because I rejected his offer to be part of his crew of outlaws and he resents me for it!" She explained in an annoyed tone. "He wants to kill me because I will expose his plans – which I've done numerous of times to you and Groot."

"Oh."

Rocket and Cora fell silent, unsure of what to say to the other. They could hear the faint voices of Peter, Gamora and Drax above them and their footsteps as they walked across the main section of the Milano.

"Sticking around with these guys means we're already at risk by not just Starling but by way more people that are way more deadlier than him – surely you can get that into your brain?" Rocket explained.

"I guess you're right – I don't know just the thought of coming across Jasper again spooked me a bit."

"Yeah okay whatever you say." Rocket snickered.

"Shut up."

"Look, Cora. Promise me you won't go jumping out of anymore ships because of your weird mood swing tendencies – got it?"

"Okay."

"You better, because I don't wanna do this again – I hated it." Rocket grumbled.

"Fine." She said with a small smile, rising from the ground.

The pair of them climbed back up to the deck and were greeted by intense stares. Rocket ignored them and walked back to the materials he was dabbling with. Cora stood on the spot and looked at Peter, Drax and Gamora apologetically and cleared her throat.

"Yeah… I owe you guys an apology. I don't work for Ronan, I'm not working against you all either. I just… um… hormones am I right?"

Rocket rubbed his hands on his head as Groot, Drax and Gamora stared at her blankly. Peter shifted uncomfortably and looked away.

"Yeah we didn't need to know that." He mumbled.

"Look the point is, I handled things the wrong way and I'm sorry. I hope we can all be on good terms again."

The others nodded in acceptance as Drax stepped forward slightly.

"I apologise for lifting you in the air by your weak arms." He spoke. "And for threatening to kill you."

"Let's make it a rule that nobody kills each other on my ship." Peter announced. "We're stuck together until we get the money."

"I have no interest in money." Drax skulked away from the group.

"Great that means more money for the four of us."

Groot grunted and raised his hand to grab Peter's attention.

"The five of us." He added. "We're partners."

"We have an agreement but I would never choose to be partners with any of you. And Quill, your ship is filthy." Gamora said, glaring at everyone before exiting the deck.

"Oh, she has no idea. If I had a black light, this place would look like a Jackson Pollock painting."

"Just when I thought Cora was crazy – you got issues, Quill." Rocket grimaced.

"That, we didn't need to know, Quill." Cora shuddered. "Quick, someone change the subject!"

"I am Groot?"

"Yeah, do we actually know where we're headed?" Cora questioned.

"Not really no, the only thing she'll tell me is that we're in the right direction." Peter replied.

"At this point, we might as well be heading nowhere." Cora groaned as she sat on a seat next to the pilot's seat, taking the backpack off her back and unzipping it, taking out her Nintendo DS and switching it on.

Peter frowned at the contraption in her hands and turned to Rocket for help.

"That was the weird game box I was talking about earlier. Is Terran junk always this weird?"

"No, only some of it is just weird to me."

"I am Groot." Groot spoke as he approached Cora.

"Give me a sec, Groot – I'll just finish this level first." She replied, her eyes glued onto her game as she kicked her legs that draped over the arm of the chair.

"Groot seems to like that thing." Peter shrugged.

"Groot likes anything." Rocket explained as they both watched the two.

"I am Groot."

"Stop being impatient, I'm almost done – go play with your remote." Cora shot back, smashing the buttons rapidly.

"I am Groot."

"Rocket lost it? Huh, sure he did." She spoke sarcastically.

"Uh oh." Rocket said in a low voice. "I'm going to have to quickly think of an excuse as to why I trashed that thing." He spoke as he gripped a piece of metal tightly.

Peter smirked at Rocket's comment and sat on a chair on the other side of Cora, watching her and Groot play with her device as he took out his Walkman and shut himself away from the group using the power of music.

Rocket has finished playing around with the materials and had positioned himself on the pilot's chair. Drax and Gamora had joined them again, sat on chairs behind Rocket, Peter and Cora but were sat in total silence. Groot was stood next to Cora, who was taking a small nap and had allowed Groot to have a go at her game.

Peter was still in his own musical world, staring out at space, his translucent reflection slightly blocking his view. Suddenly, the dashboard beeped which pricked up Rocket's ears and startled Cora as her eyes fluttered open. A planet, shaped like a decaying head was right in front of them. She frowned at it in curiosity and with slight unease.

"We're inbound." Rocket announced.

"Where are we?" Peter asked as he took off his headphones.

"Knowhere." Gamora answered.

"Yeah, it certainly looks like it – but what's this planet in front of us?" Cora spoke groggily.

"It's Knowhere." Gamora repeated, rolling her eyes.

"The joke isn't as funny now." Peter spoke.

"No, you fools, the planet is called Knowhere! It's the severed head of an celestial being."

"So, why did you bring us to this foul-looking planet?" Drax asked.

"My buyer is on this planet." Gamora spoke. "Land this thing, we have business to do."


	22. Up for a drink?

_**Hi guys,**_

 ** _I am so incredibly sorry its been a while since the last update, again a lot of things have happened that have just put me in a bad place mentally I hope you all understand. But I'm ready to publish this chapter, I worked hard on it so let me know what you think and get ready for regular updates again!_**

 ** _\- esgaroths_**

* * *

Cora exited with Rocket striding ahead in front of her. She frowned at the state of the planet; the sky was clouded with thick, heavy clouds. Every building was in a state of disarray and a majority of the people on the streets has a shady aura about them. She felt for her blaster under her belt and blew out a sharp breath as she plodded onwards.

"Watch your wallets." Peter warned as a group of children began running around them.

They began pleading for units and Rocket instantly dismissed them and gruffly walked away. Groot, on the other hand grew a flower on his hand and gave it to a little girl that flashed him a grateful smile. Cora was about to take a step forward when a little boy stood before her. His eyes were watery and his clothes were in tatters and she looked down at him as pain tugged at her heart. She knelt down and fumbled through her bag and pulled out a full pack of Oreo biscuits and handed them to him.

"It's all I have, now go find your friends."

The boy nodded in thanks and sped off into the distance as she packed up her bag and caught up with the others in her party. Gamora had led them to a bar which earned her many puzzled looks.

"The buyer's in there?" Rocket spoke in disbelief.

"We must wait here for his representative." She instructed.

"This is no respectable establishment – what do you expect us to do while we wait?!" Drax questioned, folding his arms.

"Well it's convenient for me. I was promised a drink if we escaped in 24 hours." The raccoon spoke with a cheeky grin as he turned to Cora's direction.

"Damn." She muttered under her breath. "Of all places… go on then." She said reluctantly as Rocket lead the way.

Followed by Groot, he immediately made a bee-line to the crowded bar table. The fumes instantly knocked her back for a moment, but she pressed on wanting a drink herself. She walked towards the end of the bar where the bar table was, dodging the odd glass being hurled across the room. Cora was startled by the ruthlessness of these people on Knowhere. When she reached the bar, the animal was already perched on a stool, analysing the variety of drinks they had to offer with his tall, tree-like companion.

"Groot's having his usual and I'll have my usual." Rocket instructed with a smirk and folded arms.

"Wait a second." She spoke with wide eyes as she sat on the adjacent stool. "I just realised you owe me one."

"Pfft, no I don't – buy your own drink girlie." Rocket shot back, waving his paw dismissively.

"Yeah you do! Remember back at Xandar?"

"What about Xandar?"

"At the fountain, what did you say to me when Quill popped up on the radar?"

Rocket gave back a shrug and turned to Groot for backup.

"What did I say, Groot?"

"I am Groot."

"Yeah that's ri- wait, what?! I said that?!"

Groot nodded as Rocket scratched his head. Cora grinned at him victoriously as she set up the amount of units to pay for Rocket's drink.

"Pay up, fur-ball." She gloated.

"Yeah, yeah I'm getting to it."

The two of them ordered their drinks as Groot stood behind them watching the staff make the drinks. They were so engrossed in their activities that they did not realise Drax join them without invitation on a stool next to Cora.

"What is a fur-ball?"

Cora jumped, causing the stool she sat on to wobble until she steadied herself.

"Jesus, Drax!"

"Jesus?"

"Never mind."

"You still haven't told me what a fur-ball is."

"Just look at Rocket and you have your answer."

"Do you want your drink or not, smartass?"

"Oh, my usual with ice please." She shot back wittily.

Rocket grumbled and took his attention back to the bar.

"Where's Quill and Gamora?"

"They proceeded to the balcony area." He answered, then stopped a person behind the bar to place his order.

"Five?! You're going all in huh?"

"That's barely enough to quench my thirst."

Cora shook her head in awe as the trio's drinks were placed in front of them. Rocket swigged for his and kicked Cora's over to her as it slid into her hand. Groot used his twig-like hands to grab his.

"Drink up!" Rocket commanded cheerfully as he consumed his drink rapidly.

Cora rose her drink slightly in a form of cheers and took a gulp of her drink, wanting to steady herself. She winced, noting that it was stronger than it was usually made. Groot took a slow sip from his drink and mainly held it.

She turned to face Drax momentarily and frowned at the five empty glasses that were laid out in front of him.

"Where are your drinks?" She asked with her eyebrow curved up.

"I finished them." Drax spoke back casually.

Cora's mouth dropped as Rocket's eyes widened in disbelief.

"Jesus Christ…"

"Please tell me – who is Jesus and who is Christ?!"

* * *

Groot lifted his third drink with his mouth open wide, completely missing and pouring the beverage on his face as Cora cackled wildly, slumped on a chair positioned in front of the gambling table. She held a half empty cup loosely in her hand that was being sloshed onto the floor as she waved it around. Rocket stood on the table and wiped his mouth with the back of his paw as he placed his bet. Meanwhile, Drax roared with laughter as he mingled with random bar-goers that were surrounding the gambling table.

"If I win this, do you want a fifth one airhead?" Rocket called over to Cora.

In response, she simply raised her glass at him and downed the last of it. Her brain was fuzzy, her face warm and her emotions clouded by the alcohol and her surroundings. She didn't care. She welcomed the feeling with open arms, knowing she had no worries, no stress, no problems for the time being.

She felt a draft of cold air linger around her ankles and she turned to the direction it was coming from. Through the cluster of heads in the crowd, the door to the bar opened.

"What?!" Cora spoke aloud. "No fucking way!"

"What's up asshat?" Rocket asked as his ears pricked up at Cora's outburst.

"Shit!"

"Hey girlie, answer me already!" He slurred.

"Groot, come with me!" She bellowed.

"I am Groot?"

"Rocket, come on!" She gestured quickly.

"No way, I'm on a roll baby!"

Cora rolled her eyes and lifted him by his arms as his legs dangled in the air as she strode in a hurry across the bar with Groot following, confused by her behaviour.

"What the? Put me down or I'm digging my teeth into your friggin' arm!" He roared.

"Do it, Rocket, I fucking dare you!" She spat threateningly, cutting behind the bar, earning strange looks from onlookers as the raccoon yelled and kicked his legs around.

She kicked open the door in front of her and realised it was a small, cramped storage room. She had no time to turn back and lunged inside and dropped Rocket, fumbling with the lock until her drunken hands were able to lock the door.

"What in the hell do ya think ya doin'?" Rocket demanded.

"Shut up!"

"Piss off!"

"Fucking be quiet, Rocket!"

"Just tell me why I should friggin' listen to ya, you –"

"Jasper!"

"Huh?"

"He's here and I'm telling you, here's not here to get smashed!"

"Of course not dummy, having glass smashed on ya head ain't the only thing that gives ya a headache in the mornin'."

"You utter bellend." She muttered to herself shaking her head. "Listen to me you two, Jasper is here, he's found us and he's going to kill us, so I suggest you be quiet for just one-"

A knock broke her off and all the heads in the room eyed up the door.

"Yo, Cora!" A familiar accent drawled. "It's Starlord!"

She released a sigh and walked closer to the door.

"How you doing, mate?"

"Good, I found a guy, says he's a friend of yours and hasn't seen you for a while."

Her heart sank as Rocket grabbed his ears in despair and paced around the room whilst Groot stood silently.

"Come on out and we can have a round!" Peter said joyfully.

"Um, give me a sec!" She called out and looked back at her friends worriedly.

"I am Groot?"

"I know what to do… Hide behind the door the pair of you." Cora instructed as she tossed her bag off her shoulders and began tossing random objects out of it.

"What are you gonna do?"

"Hold on, raccoon." She hissed as she took out her stun gun and loaded it.

He tightened his fists and growled before Groot picked him up and put him on his shoulder, standing behind the door.

She slowly walked with a wobble to the door and unlocked it, then stepped back slowly and lifted up the gun to aim.

"The door's open!" She shouted.

Instantly as the door swung open, Cora fired her shot and an unconscious body fell to the ground with a thud, then tossed the gun onto her bag, the room spinning slightly as all the noises surrounding her morphed into one noise; unable to register what had just happened.


	23. Drunken dramas

_**Hey guys!**_

 _ **Wow, as if I'm posting a chapter for the first time in god knows how long?! Sorry for the long wait, life is busy. But, you have my friend to thank for this getting posted, for taking my phone off me and forcing me to finish this chapter and post it. To try and make up for the time lost I made the chapter a long one so I hope you all enjoy reading it and I will try post another one very soon - it will definitely be a shorter wait than this one! Let me know what you think.**_

 _ **\- esgaroths**_

* * *

"Cora!" Rocket yelled staggering over to the door.

"I am Groot!"

"You did not just fire at Star-Man?" He spoke in disbelief.

"Chill out guys! Did you see that?! That was fucking sick!"

"Looks like you've had enough to drink already." Peter said with a confused frown.

"Hold on a sec, so you got the right one?" The animal peered round the door to find the unconscious body of Jasper lying beside Peter. "Holy shit."

"I'm good at shooting stars." She giggled as she knelt beside Jasper, stretching out for her gun once again and began gesturing with it dramatically. "Starling never saw it coming."

"Quit waving that around!" Peter scolded.

"I am Groot." Groot spoke in a low voice to drunken Cora.

She ignored Groot and began making noises as she pretended to fire the gun at Jasper, Rocket and Groot for her own amusement. Peter shook his head and picked up her bag and slung it on his back. He then knelt down to her level and pried the gun from her hands.

"Hey!" She whinged.

"You two, drag him in here – I'm going to sober her up."

Rocket snickered and gripped Jasper's limp ankle. Groot extended his branches to wrap around the other ankle and pulled him towards the storage room. Peter took hold of Cora's arm and pulled her up despite her retaliation.

"Believe me, you're next fuzzball." He added, glancing at Rocket's direction.

"Oh come on, I ain't that bad!"

Peter lead Cora back into the bar and the noises made her groan. Her head was pounding at every voice, the beat of the music, the clinking glass. It brought up a strong nausea she had to fight against, not wanting to humiliate herself in front of Peter.

"What happened?" Gamora asked, as Peter approached a table that Gamora and Drax were sat at.

"The weakling has succumbed to the effects of drink." Drax chuckled.

"Oh, piss off!" Cora spluttered.

"Just sit down." Peter instructed as he guided her towards a seat. "Anyone have water?"

"I'll get some." Gamora nodded, rising from her seat and approaching the bar.

Cora shut her eyes tightly and tucked her head into her knees in a desperate attempt to block out her surroundings, knowing she was at the verge of throwing up what she had consumed. Drax laughed at her as he took a merry swig from his cup.

"The young these days."

The only response she could give was an agitated groan that was muffled by the material of her bodysuit. Peter smirked at Drax before Rocket and Groot approached their table.

"How ya holdin' up champ?" Rocket taunted as he crawled up her back to stand on her head.

Again, Cora groaned, this time with more of a tone that represented caution.

"You're pushing it, Rocket." Quill shook his head.

"I love pushing buttons!" He slurred as he began stomping all over Cora's head.

Cora would not move, her tension spread amongst the rest of the bunch as they looked on at Rocket's antics, until Groot stepped up and plucked the raccoon from her head.

"Groot! You're no fun!" He grumbled.

"I am Groot."

"Yeah, whatever." He waved his paw dismissively.

Gamora returned with a cup of water and slid it towards Cora. She blindly felt for it and quickly felt the cup and gripped it, pulling it towards her. She lifted her head slightly and sipped on the water despite her thirst, knowing that if she gulped it the ending result would not be pretty.

"Who would like to participate in a round of Orloni battles?" Drax asked enthusiastically gesturing to the table adjacent, surrounded by rowdy individuals.

"Yeah, you're on, muscle man!" Rocket giggled as he clambered off of his wooden companion and wobbled over to the table with Drax. Groot slowly followed behind.

This left, Cora, Peter and Gamora at the table. They were silent, unsure of what to say, until Peter slowly reached out and tapped Cora's shoulder and she raised her head gently.

"You feeling better?"

"A little bit – the water's helping." She spoke, barely audible.

"So, do you wanna tell me why you shot your friend?"

"She shot the boy?" Gamora spoke with a raised eyebrow.

"He's not dead." She continued with the same voice level. "I just conked him out, he should be out for a bit. Can we go see your client now, Gamora?"

"He's making us wait."

Cora groaned once again before sipping more water and bowing her head.

"Why are you changing the subject?" Gamora quizzed.

"I wasn't."

"Then why shoot the boy?"

"Especially a friend of yours." Quill added.

"I wouldn't shoot a friend." Cora answered simply.

"But why –" Gamora pressed only to be interrupted by the Terran girl once again.

"Think about what I just said; I wouldn't shoot a friend."

"… So he was an ex?" Peter asked with a frown.

"Ugh no!" She shot back with disgust, then wincing at the volume of her voice. "Look, he was a friend, but that doesn't matter anymore." She began, back to her low mumble. "We betrayed each other – I've been trying to get on with my life ever since, but he holds a grudge."

"If you betrayed him, wont you do the same to us?" Gamora asked with narrowed eyes.

"I mean, you already tried to leave us when you made a deal." Peter said with less scepticism.

"I know, I'm sorry. I was actually doing it to protect you. You see, the boy, Jasper, he wants that orb." She whispered.

Peter's eyes widened in bewilderment as Gamora leant forward to Cora.

"Why does he want it?"

Cora shook her head.

"He wants me dead already, I can't say anything. I thought I'd be safe with Rocket and Groot, but he's found me again. My association with you and the orb is going to get us all killed."

Peter sighed and Gamora paused thoughtfully, mulling over her thoughts and new information she received.

"Loads of people are after that thing Cora, and are willing to kill for it. You wouldn't be any safer."

"I know that now. Just trust that I have no desire to associate with him and I will help you in any way I can until the deal is done and we'll go our separate ways, okay?"

Peter nodded instantly which earned a dubious look from Gamora, then she eventually nodded.

"He's just a boy, he ain't gonna do much damage to us." Quill spoke confidentally.

"We'll see." Cora spoke slowly as she tentatively stood from her seat. "I'm going to go run away now, for the second time."

Peter and Gamora gave her an unimpressed look and she put her hand on her hip.

"I was just kidding. I need fresh air, I'll be back in a little while." She spoke quietly, emphasising the last part of her sentence and she slowly walked towards the door, feeling the cold air begin to wrap around her feet and arms as she got closer to the door.

* * *

The scene that Cora returned to in the bar was worrying yet comical all at once. As she strode back in, almost fully sobered up, she saw that Rocket had been sucked back into the gambling going on at the table adjacent to them. Drax had joined in whilst Groot stood behind his furry companion, still and poised in comparison to the rowdiness displayed. She shook her head at the sight, knowing she couldn't handle more attention being brought to them in case Jasper was to regain consciousness quickly. To her surprise, Drax suddenly lunged for Rocket and the animal responded by greeting him with his blaster.

"What the hell is going on?"

Peter and Gamora sped in from the other entrance to attempt to de-escualte the argument. Peter looks between them whilst Gamora frantically pulls Drax from a defensive Groot.

"Woah woah! What are you doing?" Peter cried.

"This vermin speaks of affairs he knows nothing about!" Drax spat.

"That is true!" Rocket growled.

"He has no respect!"

"That is also true!"

"Hold on, hold on!" Peter spoke as he raised his hands to keep them apart.

"Tell me what you said, Rocket." Cora questioned sternly.

"Keep calling me vermin, tough guy!" The raccoon continued, ignoring her. You just wanna laugh at me like everyone else!"

"Rocket, you're drunk – alright?" No one's laughing at you." Peter replied.

"He thinks I'm some stupid thing! He does! Well, I didn't ask to get made!" Rocket bellowed, as the bar began to grow quiet at his outburst. "I didn't ask to lose someone who actually gave a shit about me! I didn't ask to be torn apart and put back together, over and over and turned into some… some little monster!

"No one's calling you a monster." The male Terran reassured.

"He called me vermin! She called me rodent!" Rocket pointed at Drax and Gamora. "Now let's see if you can laugh after five or six good shots to your frickin' face." He growled as his blaster whirred to fire at Drax.

"Rocket, stop!"

"No, no, no, no!"

Cora and Peter both yelled at the same time as she dashed to Rocket and snatched his blaster off him, whilst Peter got in between the arguing pair in a desperate move to end the quarrel.

"Four billion units!" Peter emphasised.

"You give me back my gun, you turd!" Rocket slurred viciously at Cora as he tugged on it, only to receive a simple shake of her head in response. "How many times have I told ya not to do that?!"

"Rocket! Come on, man! Suck it up for one more lousy night and you're rich."

This sentence seemed to finally catch Rocket's attention as he stiffened up and a thoughtful expression moulded on his face. After a short pause, he let go of the blaster and turned to face Peter.

"Fine. But I can't promise when all this is over I'm not gonna kill every last one of you jerks." He spoke threateningly.

"See? That's exactly why none of you have any friends! Five seconds after you meet somebody, you're already trying to kill them!"

Cora looked at Peter with an intense gaze. "I have Rocket and Groot and we work just fine together – We're friends but you and I aren't quite friends yet. Just play your cards right and I might consider it, but for now I'm here for the money and when this is done, I will go with my pals and leave you all be."

Another pause filled the atmosphere of the bar as Peter sighed hopelessly at the trio, unsure of what to do next to earn back their trust and cooperation. Drax clenched his fists angrily.

"We have travelled halfway across the quadrant and Ronan is no closer to being dead."

He then turned his back from the group and trudged through the crowd in a fury.

"Drax!"

"Let him go, Quill." Gamora spoke solemnly, putting an arm in front of Peter. "We don't need him."

"I am Groot."

"Good riddance, I say." Rocket mumbled with folded arms.

"If I give you the blaster back will you put it away and calm down?" Cora asked, edging it slightly towards his direction.

"You ain't my mother." He stated flatly.

"I am Groot."

"No she's not, Groot. You don't have one remember?"

"Rocket." She spoke firmly.

He sighed and nodded, agreeing to her request. She then gave the blaster back to him and he disabled it and put it back in his pocket. Gamora then approached the Terran girl awkwardly and pulled her aside.

"Have you ever… spoken to your rodent friend? About managing his anger issues?" She asked in a low tone.

"Believe me, I've tried."

"Well, you best try again." Gamora stated sternly. "For the sake of our deal."

"Got it." Cora spoke with a blank expression on her face.

At that moment, a girl's voice spread across the bar, gathering all of the crew's attention:

"Milady Gamora, I'm here to fetch you for my master."


	24. Deathly encounters

"Everybody is present." Gamora spoke.

"Except Drax." Peter pointed out.

"Except him." She remarked bitterly.

"Well, what are we waiting for let's go!" Cora urged, immediately rushing towards the girl that summoned them.

"Yes, follow me right this way." She addressed them calmly.

"Someone's eager." Rocket snickered as he was second to follow.

Groot, Gamora and Peter then joined and they all proceeded to walk to wherever the supposed client resided. The purple haired woman began chatting with Peter behind and the trio lagging not too far behind.

"You know, Gamora thinks you have anger issues." Cora stated, casting Rocket a sideways glance.

"That lady has a few of 'em herself." He grumbled.

"Uh, I mean, true." Cora hesitated. "What do you think?"

"What?"

"Do you think you have anger issues?" She asked awkwardly.

"Do you really think I give a crap?" The animal folded his arms. "Let me have my issues, you have yours."

"Like what?" She asked taken aback.

"Where do I start?"

"You, dickhead."

"I am Groot."

"Well, that's your own personal issue buddy, it ain't a big one." Rocket shrugged.

"What did he say?" Cora asked, raising an eyebrow at Groot.

"He said you never let him play on the game box."

"But it's my DS, Groot." She shot back defensively. "I do let you play on it sometimes, you can't say that!"

"Keep it down back there!" Peter called over to them.

"Anyways, this isn't even about me, it's about you." Cora continued quieter, gesturing to Rocket. "Don't you think he has anger issues, Groot?"

"I am Groot."

"You ain't supposed to agree with her, man! Stick on my side."

"I don't know why I even tried to do this, it was Gamora's idea to talk to you. If you don't like it, you can take it up with her." The Terran girl explained.

"Hmph."

Cora then opened her mouth to pose the question as to what the animal meant when he said that he lost the only person that cared for him but decided to leave it for another time. She then cleared her throat and spoke to fill the dead air.

"Well… erm… let's all just keep our cool for now until we get those units, yeah?"

"I'm only doing this for the units." He spoke with a straight face.

"You've made that very clear, many times."

"I am Groot."

"You three!" Gamora called out sternly. "You will stay close to us."

Wordlessly, Rocket and Cora jogged to Peter, Gamora and the girl whilst Groot simply took long strides with his long limbs to reach them.

"Okay, this isn't creepy at all." Rocket mumbled to himself as he took in his surroundings and growled at a dog behind an enclosure, dressed in a spacesuit.

"We house the galaxy's largest collection of fauna, relics, and species of all manner." The girl explained as she led them to a room packed with various space creatures Cora had yet to familiarise herself with. Her eyes explored with intrigue at the different enclosures with different species, her mind completely ignoring the introduction of Taneleer Tivan the collector, until he began to speak and she stood to one side.

"Oh, my dear Gamora. How wonderful to meet in the flesh." He schmoozed, kissing her hand.

"Save the formalities, Tivan. We have what we discussed." She sternly replied, yet not catching his attention.

"What is that thing there?"

He sauntered over to Groot as he stared down at the man and introduced himself.

"I never thought I'd meet a Groot." The collector exclaimed. "Sir, you must allow me to pay you now so that I may own your carcass – at the moment of your death, of course!"

"I am Groot."

"Why, so he could turn you into a frickin' chair?" Rocket snarled.

"He belongs with us." Cora folded her arms and eyed the eccentric man sceptically.

"That's your pet?" Tivan questioned Groot.

"His what?!" Rocket cried in outrage, immediately reaching for his gun.

"Rocket, just behave for just one freaking second?" Cora reprimanded.

"Well, I guess I was mistaken." The collector replied thoughtfully. "I should have known a Terran girl would have a Terran creature for a pet."

"Why does everyone think someone's gotta own me? I own me!" The raccoon announced aggressively.

"Nothing goes through those hairy ears of yours." The Terran girl snapped.

"Watch it, girlie! I'll stomp on your thick skull again."

Cora knelt down to his level and hissed into his ear.

"Think of the fucking units, Rocket, for god's sake!"

He remained still for a moment, holding his breath, then slowly exhaling and after a while, nodding in response. Cora nodded back at him and rose back up to her feet.

"Sorry for the interruption." Cora said with a smirk.

Peter rubbed his forehead in exasperation and Gamora kept her harsh gaze on the trio to serve as a warning before turning back to the collector.

"Tivan, we have been halfway around the galaxy, retrieving this orb."

"Very well, then. Let us see what you brought."

Gamora glanced at Peter as a cue for him to hand over the orb. He dug his hand into his bag and picked it out, only to accidentally drop it on the floor. Rocket snickered quietly whilst Gamora and the Collector looked rather unimpressed.

"Well done, Quill." Cora quipped.

Peter shakes his head and picks the orb back up, handing it over to Tivan.

"Oh, my new friends. Before creation itself, there were six singularities." The Collector began as he opened the orb carefully, to the fascination of the group.

Out of it came projections that showed snippets of the different parts of the universe and these surrounded the group as they studied them in awe. Cora and Groot each attempted to touch the projections, only to have their hands go through them and distort the image. The different blues and purples mixed with different constellations and clusters captivated Cora. Rocket, despite perched on the table and closest to the orb, seemed rather bored of the Collector's spiel.

"Then the universe exploded into existence, and the remnants of these systems were forged into concentrated ingots. Infinity Stones. These stones, it seems, can only be brandished by beings of extraordinary strength." He explained before gesturing to one of the projections. "Observe."

Everyone turned to look at the projection that depicted a large being using Infinity Stones to destroy the nature and people in retreat. The image made Cora rather nervous but she did not want to show this.

"There's a little pee coming out of me right now." Peter murmured.

So, she wasn't the only one, this knowledge made her unwind from her tense stature. The images before her kept playing and there was much to observe.

"Once, for a moment, a group was able to share the energy amongst each other, but even then were destroyed by it." The Collector spoke whilst opening the orb to present its contents.

To Cora, it looked like some sort of jewel. It made sense that this was an item many people were scrapping over. She enjoyed the purple's it displayed and marvelled at its beauty. The Collector could almost sense the admiration for it and chimed in.

"Beautiful, beyond compare…"

"Blah, blah, blah. We're all very fascinated, but we'd like to get paid."

"How would you like to get paid?"

"What do you think, fancy man? Units!"

"Very well, then."

The Collector turned on his heels and strolled away to fetch the units to transfer.

"A please would have been nice." Cora mumbled.

"Keep yourselves together for just a few more seconds, then you're good to go." Peter hissed.

"I am Groot." He pointed to the servant girl that edged towards the orb.

"Carina, step back." The Collector commanded.

She looked at the orb for a moment, then back at her master.

"I will no longer be your slave!" She bellowed.

The Collector cried out in protest, alarming everyone in the room. Before anyone could react, the servant girl clasps the stone and screeching in agony, the purple light illuminating the room and causing a violent explosion. Peter and Gamora threw themselves under the nearest table to shield themselves from the impact. Cora, on the other hand, had no time to process what was happening and her response to it, she shut her eyes; convinced she was dead.

"What the fu-" Peter murmured, analysing the aftermath and watching Gamora collect the orb and closing it.

"How could I think he could contain what was in that orb?" Gamora lamented as she strode towards the exit with Peter scrambling after her.

At this point, Groot had been quick to act, lunging for both Rocket and Cora to scoop them in his arms and dodge the explosion in mere seconds. Rocket yelled as Groot launched himself away from the blast and sped out the building. Once they escaped, Groot came to a stop and placed them both on the ground. Cora nearly lost her balance, her eyes fluttering open in surprise and her breathing irregular. She eventually became calm after regaining her balance and grounding herself.

"How are we not dead?!" She exclaimed.

"I am Groot."

"Groot, you're a god send!" She praised.

"Can we talk about what the hell just happened for a sec?" Rocket interjected.

"I don't even want to know what that was."

Peter and Gamora ran out the building and Cora watched them in disbelief. Rocket spotted the orb in Gamora's hand then stepped back.

"Why do you still have that thing?"

"Well, what are we gonna do, leave it in there?" Peter argued back.

"I can't believe you had that in your purse!"

"It's not a purse it's a knapsack!"

"We have to bring it back to the Nova Corps. There's a chance they can contain it!" Gamora suggested.

"Are you crazy?" Cora folded her arms. "I'm pretty sure we're all wanted by the Nova Corps for various reasons."

"Girlie's right." Rocket agreed. "Just give it to Ronan!"

"What, so he can destroy the galaxy?" Peter shook his head.

"What are you, some saint all of a sudden? What has the galaxy ever done for you? Why would you wanna save it?

"Because I'm one of the idiots who lives in it!"

"Yeah, Quill has a point, you lost me when you brought the bad guy into it, Rocket." Cora spoke, gesturing to Peter.

"Peter, listen to me. We cannot allow the stone to fall into Ronan's hands. We need to board your ship and bring it to the Nova Corps." Gamora insisted.

"Right okay. I think you're right… or we could give it to somebody who's not going to arrest us, who's really nice, for a whole lot of money. I think it's a really good balance between both points of view."

Cora snickered and Gamora tutted under her breath.

"You're despicable."

"I…"

"Dishonourable! Faithless!"

A new voice cried out from the distance, startling everyone.

"Don't you dare move, Coralette!"

Cora instantly became pale, refusing to turn back, knowing what sight would be in store for her. She glanced down at Rocket, who gives her a look, then she turned to Groot, who looked down upon her solemnly.

"Looks like I'm dead again."

Mentally accepting the circumstances, she turned to face Jasper, finding him stood across the path from them by the bar entrance, with a blaster aimed at her and a handful of people behind him, which she assumed to be his group. Many emotions bubbled inside her as she stared at his cold expression, the confusion making her tear up.

Before either party could act, the whirring of ships diverted everyone's attention. Everyone looked up and spotted a ship landing at the end of the path.

"Oh no…" Gamora spoke to herself in a hushed tone.

It was then they noticed Drax, waiting for the ship to land, armed with his knives.

"At last, I shall meet my foe and destroy him!"

"You called Ronan?!" Peter spluttered.

"Quill! Don't you move, boy!" Yet another familiar voice boomed.

Yondu stepped out to reveal himself and the ravagers, they too are armed and are locked onto Peter.

Cora's jaw dropped as she watched the sight, every single person she did not wish to cross were all together in the same place. Her eyes darted from Yondu, to Jasper; who suddenly looked rather afraid. Yondu noticed him and chuckled menacingly.

"Lookie here, we have Starling too, well, this is my lucky day!" Yondu cooed.

Everyone simply stared in silence at each other, cautious if someone would be bold enough to make the first move and who would be the one to do it. This silence was broken by Drax from afar, and all heads turned to his direction.

"Ronan the accuser!"

The dark, hooded figure stepped out from his ship, his skin ice blue with blank paint smeared down from his eyes symmetrically. He was armed with what appeared to be a glowing hammer. His unsettling aura confirmed to Cora that he was definitely somebody to be feared across the galaxy.


	25. All Hell breaks loose

With everyone transfixed on Drax and Ronan, Cora knew it was her opportunity to run, yet she was not at all familiar with the planet of Knowhere and knew she did not know where she was to hide. Nevertheless, she broke into a sprint, just as Drax began his attack on Ronan. Jasper noticed her in the corner of his eye and instantly fired a shot at her, narrowly missing her but making her yelp in fright. Quick orders to his crew flew out of his mouth before he quickly pursued her, oblivious to Rocket and Groot on his tail him from behind.

Jasper, being the fastest of the two, caught up to her and tackled her to the ground. She wriggled as much as she could, grunting in her efforts as he pinned her arms to the ground.

"Jasper! I don't want to hurt you. Let's just talk – you and me. Listen to me, please!"

"Then why did you fire at me in the bar?!" He spat, tightening his grip on her arms, causing a quiet cry of pain from Cora.

"If I wanted to kill you I wouldn't have changed the bloody settings! I don't want a scene, please let go of me and we can talk."

"I know where your loyalties lie, Cora." He snarled.

She was about to retaliate until he let go of one arm and lowered his blaster towards her heaving chest. With her free hand, she tried to swipe for it, but he twisted her other arm to make her use the other to hold it, as she cried out once again. With his vacant hand, he pried her wrists together and squeezed onto them tightly so she couldn't break free. She squirmed all she could but to no avail, until Jasper cocked his gun and she froze, her lip quivering. She struggled to breathe, the sound of the gun stealing the breath from her and due to Jasper's knee digging into her stomach. She feared the absolute worst, using her watery eyes to plead with him to spare her and listen to what she had to say.

In one quick motion, he began to pull the trigger until wooden branches snared his hand and jolted it upwards to cause the shot to misfire. Cora screamed at the sound but realised quickly it missed when she spotted the work of Groot, as the figure towered behind Jasper.

"I am Groot!" The creature roared.

"Get the hell out of here, Starling." Rocket warned from the side, loading his over-sized blaster. "Or we'll give it to ya."

Jasper attempted to smack the branches off his arm, forgetting about Cora momentarily. She knew this was her chance to escape, yet the guilt of landing a hit on him filled her stomach, despite the life or death situation she was in. Reminding herself that Jasper was serious in killing her and that this was not the first attempt, she looked reluctantly at her hand, curled it up, then swung at him with the punch landing on his cheek.

The force of it pushed him off of her as Groot let go of him, he then picked up the blaster he dropped and crushed it with his hand. Jasper lay on his side on the dirt as he clasped his cheek and Cora scrambled to her feet. She looked down on him with a wounded expression and lowered her head. Rocket noticed the boy sit up and whirred up his blaster, changing the settings of it and fired, electrocuting him, making Jasper hiss in pain and writhe.

"We need to get going, girlie. This way!" Rocket gestured and began to run ahead.

Cora followed along with Groot behind her. The animal lead them to three mining pods that Peter and Gamora began to board.

"Cora, you and I can just about squeeze in. Stick with me." Rocket commanded as she wordlessly crawled into the pod. "Groot, you're too big so you're staying here for now, buddy."

Rocket went to crawl into the pod until he heard Groot trying to get in.

"I told you, you can't fit! Now, wait here. We'll be back."

Rocket then pushed a button to shut the door as Cora leant back in the seat with what little room she had and folded her arms. Rocket stood on her legs and took control of the pod and began to take off, steering it and briefly looking over to her.

"This is the quietest you've been. It takes a lot to shut you up."

"The Jasper I knew… he's totally gone." She lamented.

"Yeah, you knocked it out of him." He snickered.

"It's not funny. I never wanted to hurt him."

"The boy put a frickin' blaster to you, what more do you need to realise he's beyond reasoning with? If it were me, I would have nailed him right between the eyes and have it over with."

"But you didn't."

"Because you would have kicked off if I did."

Cora fell silent and looked out at the windscreen in front of them as Rocket continued to steer.

"It's not my issue, I was just trying to save your ass, not fight your battles. Say 'Thank you, Rocket.'"

"I appreciate the help." Cora looked at him with a solemn expression. "I just didn't want to solve his anger towards me with violence. I need him to just talk things out so we can listen to each other."

"What with Ronan and Yondu a few feet away? You certainly pick your times!"

"He tackled me to the ground what else was I supposed to do? I genuinely thought I was a goner; I had to try and say things to get him to listen! Have you ever been in a situation where you thought what you were going to say to someone would be the last thing you could tell them?"

"Don't try change the subject."

"I bet you have – What about the person you mentioned in the bar?"

"What person?"

"You said something about losing someone who gave a shit abo-"

"Don't you dare finish that goddamn sentence!" Rocket snarled.

"Why?"

"You're lucky this pod is too small for me to blow you up into smithereens."

"You wanted gratitude for saving my arse and now you want to attack me?!"

"Not unless you shut up and never mention that again!"

"What happened, Rocket?"

"Don't keep asking!"

"No, Rocket; what happened to you?"

The raccoon fell silent and became still. Cora stared at him with furrowed eyebrows, wanting an answer, prepared to listen and learn, but all Rocket would give her was a half-hearted shrug, until beeping occurred from the control panel.

"What's wrong?" She queried.

"There's ships following us." He grumbled.

Static interrupted the conversation until a voice came through cleanly.

"Rocket, do you copy?" Quill spoke through the communication system.

"Whaddya want?"

"We have company, keep them off Gamora until she gets to the Milano."

"How? We've got no weaponry on these things."

"These pods are industrial grade, they're nearly indestructible."

"Not against necroblasts, they're not."

"That's not what I'm saying."

Rocket paused briefly, mulling over Peter's words until it clicked in his brain.

"Oh!"

"Are we having a game of bumper cars?" Cora spoke sitting up slightly.

"I don't know what that is, but hold on tight – and don't throw up on me!"

"No promises."

Rocket groaned steered the pod to the two ships he detected and collided into them with great force and Cora grabbed the edges of the seat for dear life.

"On your left!" She warned as Rocket seamlessly dodged the shot and crashed into the offending ship.

"Do you see any other ships?" Rocket asked as his eyes darted to and fro areas of the windscreen.

"Not that I see, just – wait, what is he doing?" She spoke as she leant forward in a sudden movement.

"Hey, there's no room in here!" Rocket protested, almost squished against the windscreen and she leant back.

"W-wha-why did he leave his pod?" She frowned.

"Seems like he's trying to take out the ships by taking one for himself."

"Why are those ships going after Gamora? Are they… Ronan's people?"

"You might be onto something."

"Let's find out."

Rocket propelled the pod forwards to follow Peter, Gamora and the ships.

A flash of fire stopped the pod that Rocket and Cora vacated in its tracks. The explosion spread itself widely across the windscreen as the two watched in shock. They were not alone in this as Peter had come to a stop and watched on. Once the smoke and fire swept away, it revealed an unconscious Gamora drifting in the atmosphere. Cora's mouth parted in a silent gasp.

"Quill, come on. Her body mods should keep her alive for a couple more minutes, but there's nothing we can do for her. These pods aren't meant to be out here. In a second, we're gonna end up like her." Rocket spoke.

Peter kept watching on and Rocket sighed, gripping the controls.

"There has to be something we can do." Cora spoke quietly.

Rocket simply shook his head and began turning the pod away.

"Aw, damn it!" Peter exclaimed, barely audible to the duo.

"Quill?" Rocket spoke turning the pod back around.

They witnessed Peter punch a couple of buttons on his control panel and pause for a while until he began to speak:

"Yondu? Yondu! This is Quill!"

"Peter, don't do this!" Cora cried.

"My coordinates are two-two-seven-K-three-two-four."

"Quill, what are you doing?" Rocket asked with a concerned frown on his face.

Nevertheless, he continued his transmission: "Just outside Knowhere, come get me. I'm all yours."

"Quill! Peter! You need to stop – this won't help anyone!" Cora pleaded.

Peter continued to turn a blind eye from them and put on his mask and exiting his pod, propelling himself across towards Gamora.

"Don't be ridiculous, Quill! Get back into your pod! You can't fit two people in there; Cora and I barely fit as it is!"

Peter held onto Gamora and took off his mask and Cora instantly leant forward in desperation.

"You'll die in seconds! Quill!" Rocket yelled.

"Peter! Listen to us!" Cora screeched, pounding on the glass.

"Don't do that, Cora! You'll get us killed too!" Rocket scolded, grabbing her hand and moving it away, noticing Yondu's ship approaching and beginning to turn the pod once again.

"We can't leave!" Cora spoke exasperatedly.

"He chose his own demise – don't feel guilty about it." Rocket argued as he brought the pod back towards Knowhere.

"God… why?" Cora muttered to herself. "Why?!"

She kicked the underneath of the control panel in frustration.

"Spare the pod until we land, alright?" Rocket warned.

"I just- Why? Why would he put himself into deep shit?"

"He's dealing with it now, just be thankful it wasn't us."

"We should have helped!"

"And what; left Groot behind on Knowhere to try figure it out on his own? He wouldn't last minutes!"

Cora pursed her lips shut and folded her arms. Rocket made a triumphant hum as he landed the pod.

"You know I'm right, now quit being so angry, you're giving me a run for my money."

Rocket crawled off of her lap and she followed him out of the pod, standing on her feet and surveying the area for any danger. Instead, she found Drax, looking worse for wear on the ground, with Groot by his side.

"Blasted idiot." Rocket growled as he paced. "Quill just got himself captured!" He then stopped to turn to Drax. "None of this wouldn't have happened if you didn't try to single-handedly take on a frickin' army!"

Drax tensed up whilst Cora watched on with folded arms across her chest.

"Oh boo-hoo-hoo; 'my wife and child are dead!'"

Groot gasped at his words and Cora shook his head at him in disappointment.

"Oh, I don't care if it's mean! Everybody's got dead people! That's no excuse to get everybody else killed along the way! Ronan has the stone!"

"Pack it in! We can't change the situation now so there's no use in pointing fingers and making it personal; we just have to sort this shit out or we're fucked!" Cora yelled at the raccoon.

"The only chance we got is to get to the other side of the universe as fast as we can and maybe, just maybe, we'll be able to live full lives before that whack-job ever gets there." Rocket shouted in return.

Groot stood onto his feet and made eye contact with the animal.

"I am Groot."

"Save the? How?" He quizzed.

"I am Groot."

"I know they're the only friends that we ever had, but there's an army of Ravagers around them and there's only three of us!"

At that moment, Drax pulled himself up and stepped forward as everyone locked eyes on him.

"Four."

Rocket let out a noise of anger and began kicking a mound of grass in an attempt to simmer his frustration.

"Aw! You're making me beat up grass!"

"Drax, just cooperate with us alright? That's all we ask." Cora asked.

"I shall try my best, red-haired Terran."

She nodded in response and walked a few steps and turned back to the group.

"Then let's get cracking, Jasper's still around so we need to get a move on."


	26. Plans and Judgement

The four of them trudged back to the Milano, that had remained intact throughout their whole visit. They walked up the ramp into the ship and Rocket instantly lurched for the pilot seat and Cora took the adjacent seat, sinking into it with exhaustion.

"Who captured Peter Quill and Gamora?" Drax spoke as he took the seat behind her.

"It's funny that you've asked." She sighed, hopelessly.

Rocket groaned. "Peter surrendered himself and Gamora to the Ravagers."

"What fool does such a thing!?" Drax exclaimed.

"I am Groot."

"Exactly." Cora muttered as she unzipped her backpack, taking out her iPod shuffle, pressing play so the muffled intro to 'Music' by Madonna could be heard through the earphones and she began untangling them.

"So, we need a plan." Rocket announced.

"Can we discuss after we take off so the maniac that is Jasper, won't go after us again?"

"What kind of a creature is a maniac?" Drax questioned.

Cora rolled her eyes and stuck in her earphones, singing the lyrics to the song under her breath. Rocket tutted under his breath and proceeded to take off the Milano, whilst Drax gave Cora a puzzled look. Once the Milano was in flight and a decent distance from Knowhere, Rocket slowed the ship to a standstill and unbuckled his seatbelt.

"Right, ideas to save Quill and Gamora's asses; go!" Rocket ordered.

"I say we slaughter ever single Ravager that tries to thwart our efforts." Drax spoke with a small smile.

"A plan with less blood." The raccoon dismissed.

"I am Groot."

"No that won't work this time, Groot! She's too busy being in a mood over there." He gestured a paw over to a gloomy looking, Cora.

"Hey! Cora! Cora?" Rocket waved trying to get her attention until she eventually turned and began singing along to Madonna under her breath. "Can you hear me? Why don't you come up with something wise-ass!?

Cora simply smirked and began singing the lyrics in a louder and more obnoxious manner, causing Rocket to grow impatient and yanked the earphones out of her ears.

"What?!"

"You can't be acting like this. Get it together, like you said; the Jasper you knew is gone, you will never ever get him back so stop with the misery!"

Cora scowled at him with watery eyes and turned away. Drax inched closer to her and folded his arms.

"Please tell me what sort of creature that is this maniac you speak of and why it is associated with this Jasper?"

"One, a maniac is not a creature it is a word to describe someone or something that is acting stupid. Two, Jasper is a maniac who tried to kill me because apparently having good morals in the galaxy gets you nowhere and we will never get back the friendship we had. Does that answer your questions, Drax?" Cora shot back.

"The people of Knowhere have terrible morals."

"No! Wha- I was- ugh! Why do you take everything so literal?"

"What happened to your friendship?" Drax questioned.

Cora pursed her lips, briefly taken aback by the question and shook her head, avoiding eye contact with everyone. She began fiddling with her iPod and earphones and spoke in a mousy tone.

"The more I think about it, I don't know…He became so caught up in what he had created for himself that everything else wasn't important anymore. He tracked me down to Knowhere and tried to finish me off, but that's not the worst part for me."

"I am Groot?"

Her face had grown weary and she rested her cheek in the palm of her hand furiously holding back her tears.

"I knew he wanted to kill me, yet I couldn't bring myself to hurt him. If Rocket and Groot hadn't have come when they did I would have died. I just couldn't kick or punch or do something to him because I can't let go. And, I feel like an absolute idiot."

Drax shook his head and put a hand on the seat she sat on causing her to make eye contact with him.

"After long days and nights spent in battle, defeating my foes; I do not always think about the lives I have took. My mind has the clearest recollections of those I spared. It seems everyone has been taught that it is noble to take a life, but it can be most noble to make the judgement."

The redheaded girl began to nod slowly as she unravelled the meaning behind Drax's words.

"But it fills me with great joy remembering the blood I have spi-"

"You almost had it, but you had to reverse back didn't ya?" Rocket cut in.

"I get what Drax is saying." Cora nodded. "Besides, I just need to push all of this to one side and we need to get Quill and Gamora back."

"We still haven't come up with any part of a plan." Rocket lamented.

"Well Rocket." She spoke, staring at the control panel with a smirk. "We still haven't tested out the weapons on the Milano."

"Say no more." Rocket chuckled with delight. "Strap yourselves in. Cora, do you remember the coordinates he gave."

"Um yeah, I do." She spoke as she entered them into the control panel. "But they could be anywhere at this point."

"I am Groot."

"I can locate Yondu's ship if he ain't there."

Rocket manoeuvred the ship quickly to the point of the coordinates to see that they were long gone.

"What do the Ravagers intend to do to Quill?" Drax questioned.

"How should I know?" The raccoon answered. "I don't know the business he had with Quill."

"What is the best method in attacking them?"

"You want to personally fight them? That's bold." Rocket commented.

"It's a pretty large ship he has, your knives won't do a thing unless you can get inside unnoticed." Cora pointed out.

Rocket appeared thoughtful for a long while and all eyes were locked onto him. He began to chuckle and turned to Drax.

"I have a toy you can play with."

"I'm not interested in such childish creations."

"No, I have a weapon. It's something I made a while back." Rocket explained as he began tracking for Yondu's ship.

"Oh is it what I think-" Cora began and Rocket instantly nodded, causing her to nod in approval.

"I am Groot."

"Yeah, this thing packs a punch so we'll need you to use it outside the ship, you think you can do that?"

"I can definitely do that." Drax spoke excitedly.

"Good. Grab a space suit, put it on. I think I put it near Cora's stuff back there." The animal gestured behind him. "It should be obvious, if you don't recognise it – then it's definitely not it and its just Cora's junk."

Rocket began steering the ship as Drax followed his instructions. Cora had perked up and put her iPod on shuffle and listened to "Thunderbirds Are Go" by Busted as she entered various queries into the panel and scanned their surroundings. Groot sat patiently and quiet, watching his two friends at work. Drax returned and Rocket stopped the ship a short distance from Yondu's and briefed him on what to do as Cora kept lookout. Drax then climbed out of the Milano onto the top of it and Rocket gently brought the ship forward, closer to Yondu's.

"Cora, turn on the communications."

"Got it." She said with one flick of a switch. "Now grab their attention."

"Easy."

Rocket fired once at the ship and Cora gave him a nod for him to speak as she watched Yondu's ship carefully.

"Attention, idiots. The lunatic on top of this craft is holding a Hadron Enforcer. It's a weapon of my own design."

Yondu's faint voice was picked up and Cora frowned at it, trying to decipher it.

"If you don't hand over our companions now, he's gonna tear up your ship." Rocket continued.

"I ain't buyin' it." Yondu spoke through the speakers.

"I'm giving you to the count of five. Five, four, three…"

She then heard different voices that she recognised to be Peter's and Gamora's speaking over each other at the same time. Cora the put an arm in front of Rocket.

"Wait, Rocket, hold off for one sec."

"Rocket, it's me, for God's sakes! We figured it out! We're fine!"

There was a pause in the Milano as Cora and Groot turned to Rocket, waiting for his reaction and his next move, only for him to reply;

"Oh hey, Quill – what's going on?"


	27. Unity

Yondu had given permission for the Milano to land in his bay. Once it had touched down, the group disembarked and were greeted by Yondu himself, with Peter and Gamora behind him. He appeared neutral until he locked eyes with Cora and tensed up at the sight of her.

"What in the hell are you doin' here?" He snarled.

"Oh shit." She winced.

"Wait what?" Peter piped up.

"You have some nerve walkin' back into this vicinity." Yondu continued.

"You know each other?!" Peter blurted out in disbelief.

"It was all down to messy circumstances." Cora folded her arms.

"What were these circumstances?" Drax asked with a frown.

"Yondu, she ain't on Starling's side anymore." Rocket explained.

"Where's your proof?" The centaurian challenged.

"You too?!" Peter spoke in exasperation. "It's a small world, huh."

"You mean the galaxy – it's also not small it's ginormous." Drax butted in.

"Now is not the time." Gamora bellowed. "Cora was with us and you saw her run from the boy when he showed up, why would she run if she was still on his side?"

Yondu paused and nodded with the familiar sly smile Cora had seen many times in the past.

"What did you do to piss him off?"

"It's too much to explain." She shook her head. "But you have nothing to worry about. I'm not working with him anymore."

Yondu gave her a long look then stood to the side to allow her and the others to pass through and everyone wordlessly began to follow Peter through the corridors.

"For now." Cora resumed under her breath with a giggle.

"Do not joke about that, Cora." Peter warned in a low voice. "Yondu will have no second thoughts about killing you if you pose any kinda threat."

"Oh, trust me, I know."

"You pick the wrong times to get ballsy." Peter replied.

"Where are you taking us, Quill?"

"Somewhere quiet where we can talk."

"I am Groot."

"Yeah, what is this about?" Rocket quizzed.

"Be patient." Peter shot back as he opened a door to an empty room.

The group walked in and found their own places to occupy. Rocket went to sit on a metal crate, with Cora sat on the floor nearby, unzipping her bag and grabbing her Nintendo DS, switching it on to play on it idly. Groot sat on a metal crate on the other side of Rocket and Drax sat opposite. Peter and Gamora were the only ones left standing and they looked rather serious as they stood before them.

"Please tell us why we are here." Drax asked, locking eyes with Peter.

"We've learned a few things being here with the Ravagers." Peter began. "I learned Yondu still has a soft spot for me."

"I don't think Yondu would be particularly squishy." Drax frowned.

"No, what I meant was, he raised me as a young boy and initially he wanted to kill me for not giving him the orb, but we've moved past that… for the time being."

"So, if you were part of the Ravagers, how come you never saw Cora's number one fan?" Rocket snickered, earning a glare from Cora until she focused on Peter for his answer.

"It's a big clan, I don't know how many more there are out there. We all had our different roles and assignments. Anyways, can we stay focused? Thank you. So, we figured it out. Yondu and the Ravagers are gonna help us stop Ronan because I promised him the orb but I'm not gonna give it to him, duh. We'll get the orb back to Xandar and the Nova Corp, the whole galaxy is saved! What do you guys think?"

"You call that 'figured out?' We're gonna rob the guys who just beat you senseless!" Rocket pressed.

"Oh, you want to talk about senseless? How about trying to save us by blowing us up?" Peter countered.

"We were only gonna blow you up if they didn't turn you over!"

"And how on earth were they going to turn us over when you gave them a count of five?!"

"Well, we tried to help." Cora shrugged as she rapidly pressed the buttons on her DS.

"I am Groot."

"They are ungrateful." The raccoon nodded.

"What's important now is we get the Ravagers to help us save Xandar." Gamora pitched in.

"Not with an empty promise." Rocket stated.

"We'll figure that part out later." Peter tried to reassure the group.

Cora snickered at his response, still focused on her game.

"We have to stop Ronan." Gamora spoke solemnly.

"How?" The raccoon challenged.

"I have a plan." Peter added, somewhat confidently.

"You've got a plan?"

"Yes."

"First of all, you're copying me from when I said I had a plan."

"No, I'm not. People say that all the time, it's not that unique of a thing to say."

"I don't even believe you have a plan." Rocket argued.

"I have part of a plan!" Peter spoke uncertainly.

"What percentage of a plan do you have?" Drax interjected.

"You don't get to ask questions after the nonsense you pulled on Knowhere." Gamora spat.

"I just saved Quill!"

"We've already established that you destroying the ship I'm on is not saving me." Peter explained.

"When did we establish it?"

"Like three seconds ago!"

"Great so when do we start?" Cora blurted out, looking up from her DS.

"What?" Peter frowned.

"Oh, you've um still not come up with a plan – I should have known better." She mumbled, going back to her game.

"Are you two even listening?!" Gamora yelled in frustration. "Give me that!" She added, trying to swipe the DS off of Cora.

"Take your hands off my DS or I'm blasting you out of this goddamn ship!"

"As boring as this is, just pay attention for a few minutes, will ya?" Rocket reprimanded, earning himself a groan from the girl.

She took back her DS and switched it off, snapped it shut and tucked it back in her bag. Gamora sighed and gave a brief nod in thanks before turning away swiftly from her.

"Happy? Now wrap this up, please." Cora grumbled.

"What percentage?" Rocket continued.

"I don't know, twelve percent."

Rocket burst into a sudden roar of laughter as Cora smiled coyly at the scene.

"That's a fake laugh!" Peter accused.

"It's real!"

"Totally fake."

"Nope, that's an actual laugh of his." Cora said, failing at keeping a straight face.

"That is the most, real, authentic, hysterical laugh of my entire life because that is not a plan!"

"It's barely a concept." Gamora agreed.

"You're taking their side?" Peter spoke in disbelief.

"I am Groot."

"So what, it's better than eleven percent? What the hell does that have to do with anything?" Rocket replied.

"At least one of us is looking on the bright side." Cora commented.

"Thank you, Groot. Thank you." Peter said, feeling relieved by Groot's support. "See? Groot's the only one of you who has a clue."

Peter turned in his direction to see the flora colossus chewing a leaf on his shoulder, only to shake his head, feeling foolish as Rocket and Cora snickered at the scene together.

"Guys, come on. Yondu is expecting to hear this big plan of ours. I need your help. I look at us and you know what I see? Losers. I mean, like folks who have lost stuff – and we have. Man, we have; all of us. Our homes, our families, friends, normal lives. And, usually life takes more than it gives, but not today. Today, it's given us something. It has given us a chance."

"To do what?" Drax asked in a low tone.

"To give a shit for once, not run away." Peter continued. "I, for one, am not gonna stand by and watch as Ronan wipes out billions of innocent lives."

"But Quill, stopping Ronan; it's impossible. You're asking us to die." Rocket spoke softly.

Cora had watched Peter's speech and became inspired by it, prepared to help in any way she could until Rocket had made his counter-argument. Her head dropped low at the mention of death, it made her heart pump a cold twinge of fear through her chest.

"Yeah, I guess I am…" Peter admitted in defeat, turning away from them all in shame.

The room fell into complete silence for a brief moment, leaving everyone to their thoughts, until Gamora broke it.

"Quill, I have lived most of my life surrounded by my enemies. I will be grateful to die among my friends." She stood up in support.

"You are an honourable man, Quill. I will fight beside you and in the end, see my wife and daughter again." Drax spoke as he rose to his feet.

"I am Groot." Groot agreed and stood tall in solidarity.

Cora looked at Gamora, then to Drax, then stared at Peter thoughtfully before turning to Groot. She knew Groot wouldn't put himself through danger in a rash manner. She nodded at her tree friend and slowly stood up.

"You have good music taste and I like your ship so, I'm in." She spoke before shaking her head. "I'm playing, but, well, I… haven't met people quite like you guys. I'd like to stick around with you all for a little longer."

Everyone turned to Rocket waiting for his decision. He stared everyone down for a while before sighing and standing to his feet.

"Oh, what the hell, I don't got that long a lifespan, anyway. Now I'm standing. You all happy? We're all standing up now. Bunch of jackasses, standing in a circle."


End file.
